Facebook Legacy Contact — Setting Up Your Account for After You're Gone
Most of us have years of photos, messages, and memories sitting inside a social-media account, and almost none of us have decided what should happen to them. When someone dies, families often discover they cannot get into the account, cannot change it, and cannot even quiet the birthday reminders that keep arriving. Facebook's legacy contact feature exists for exactly this, and it takes a couple of minutes to set up — but only while you are alive.
This guide explains what the feature does, what it deliberately does not do, and how it fits into a Canadian digital-estate plan. The specifics below reflect the platform's own help documentation, which can change; check the current settings when you set it up.
What a legacy contact is
A legacy contact is a person you nominate, in advance, to manage your account after it has been memorialized following your death.[1] You choose them yourself inside your account settings. The point is to hand a trusted person a limited caretaker role — enough to keep your profile respectful and useful to those who are grieving, without giving away full control.
What they can do
Once the account is memorialized, a legacy contact can:[2]
- Write or pin a post to the top of your profile — often used to share a funeral notice or a farewell message.
- Respond to new friend requests from people who want to connect with the memorialized profile.
- Update your profile picture and cover photo.
- Manage tribute posts — deciding who can see and post tributes, and removing posts or tags that are inappropriate.
- Request removal of the account entirely.
- If you enabled it when setting them up, download a copy of what you shared (posts, photos, and profile information).
What they cannot do
The role is intentionally narrow. A legacy contact cannot log in as you, and cannot read your private messages.[2] So this is not a way to hand someone the keys to your account or your conversations — it is a way to let them tidy and steward a memorial page. If you want someone to actually access private content, that is a different and more sensitive decision that the legacy-contact tool deliberately does not cover.
What "memorialized" means
When an account is memorialized, it becomes a space to remember the person.[3] The word "Remembering" appears next to their name, the content they shared stays visible to whoever could already see it, and the profile stops surfacing in public-facing places like ads, suggestions, and birthday reminders — the small, painful prompts that otherwise keep arriving. A named legacy contact can then manage the profile within the limits above.
The trap — set it up before, not after
Here is the part that catches families: if you never name a legacy contact, a memorialized account generally cannot be managed by anyone afterward.[1] There is no simple way to add the role once you are gone. Your family could still ask the platform to memorialize or permanently delete the account, but they could not pin a notice, moderate tributes, or update the page. The two minutes it takes to choose a contact now is the entire difference between a manageable memorial and a frozen one.
How it fits with your will
It is tempting to think your will can dispose of your online accounts the way it disposes of your bank account. It generally cannot — access to a platform is governed by that platform's terms of service, and the platform provides its own in-account tools, like the legacy contact, to decide what happens. The sensible approach is twofold: use the platform's tool to name the person, and record your wishes in your will or, better, in a separate digital-asset list that tells your executor which accounts exist and what you want done with each. For the broader strategy, see digital legacy planning in Canada and the equivalent tool for Apple devices in Apple Digital Legacy.
What we focus on at It's Simple Will
The Will Creator focuses on the legally operative document — who inherits, who acts, who is cared for. Digital accounts like this one are best handled with the platform's own tools plus a companion list your executor can actually use, which is exactly what the Life Discovery Kit is built to capture. For the full approach to online accounts, see digital legacy planning in Canada.
Related guides
Citations & sources
- [1]About legacy contacts on Facebook — Facebook Help Center
- [2]Legacy Contacts — Facebook Help Center
- [3]About memorialized accounts on Facebook — Facebook Help Center
Frequently asked questions
What is a Facebook legacy contact?
It is a person you nominate, in advance, to look after your Facebook account once it has been memorialized after your death. You choose them in your account settings while you are alive. After memorialization they get a limited set of management abilities — not full access to your account.
What can a legacy contact actually do?
They can write or pin a post on your profile, respond to new friend requests, update your profile picture and cover photo, manage and moderate tribute posts, and request that the account be removed. If you enable it, they can also download a copy of what you shared. They act in a caretaker role, not as you.
What can't a legacy contact do?
They cannot log in as you, and they cannot read your private messages. The role is deliberately limited so it can keep a memorialized profile tidy and respectful without exposing your private conversations or giving full control of the account.
What does it mean for an account to be 'memorialized'?
A memorialized account is preserved as a place for friends and family to remember the person. The word 'Remembering' is shown next to the name, the content the person shared stays visible to its original audience, and the profile no longer appears in public spaces like ads or birthday reminders. A legacy contact, if one was named, can then manage it within limits.
What happens if I never set one up?
If you do not name a legacy contact, a memorialized account generally cannot be changed or managed by your family — there is no easy path to add the role after the fact. Your family could still request that the account be memorialized or permanently deleted, but day-to-day management would not be possible. That is why setting it up in advance matters.
How does this fit with my will?
Your will does not directly control your social-media accounts — the platform's terms of service do, and platforms provide their own in-account tools like the legacy contact. The practical approach is to use those tools to name the person, and to record your wishes (and where to find instructions) in your will or a companion digital-asset list so your executor and chosen contact know what you wanted.