Accessing a Deceased Person’s Gmail Account

Although it might not be the first thing that springs to your mind, there may come a time (unfortunately) when somebody you know passes away and the question of what to do with his or her online identity arises.

You may also wish to access a deceased person’s email for legal and personal reasons. Google has a service set up to handle this, although because of the nature of the request, it is handled individually rather than by an automated service.

You need to supply the following to Google:

+ Your name.

+ Your mailing address.

+ Your email address.

+ A photocopy of a government-issued ID (driver’s license, passport, and so on).

+ The Gmail address of the deceased user.

+ The death certificate of the deceased user.

+ The following information from a Gmail message you received from the deceased person’s account:

+ The full header from the email message.

+ The entire content of the message.

Google asks that you mail or fax this information to its headquarters:

Google Inc.

Gmail User Support - Decedents’ Accounts

c/o Google Custodian of Records

1600 Amphitheatre Parkway

Mountain View, CA 94043

Fax: 650-644-0358

Google personnel review the request and notify you by email how to proceed. The whole process is reputed to be quite slow, taking at least 30 days to even get started.