What Happens to Your Photos When You Die?

It’s inevitable. Sooner or later, we are going all die. It’s a fact of life.

As a Photo Organizer, one of the things I think about is what is going to happen to my family’s lifetime collection of videos and photos when I die. This is not the typical thing that might come to mind when writing your will or making your final wishes known to your family. However, in this day and age, having a digital estate plan and letting your intentions be known for the disposition of your family photos (digital and printed) is vitally important.

Print Photos

Boxes of printed photos and photo albums are probably the easiest to deal with. Designating a family member who will cherish and care for the photos is ideal. You can make it official by including it in your will, or you can just let the family know your intent.

One thing to keep in mind is if your printed photos are a jumbled mess and you die tomorrow (sorry, but it might happen), you will be leaving chaos, confusion, and overwhelm for your family. In all honestly, they may not want to wade through the mess. That’s why it is so important for you to organize and safely preserve your photos and the stories behind them. It’s truly a gift to the next generation. (If you are struggling to get this done, you can always hire to photo organizer to help you with some or all of the project.)

Digital Photos

First, let’s talk about the digital photos that are in your possession.

Where are they? Are they stuck on your phone, an SD card, CDs from the 90s, or your computer hard drive? First, I suggest you create a photo hub (a central location where all of your digital photos live, like an external hard drive) and store your photos there. Next, be sure your family knows where you keep the family’s digital photos. And be sure they know your computer password.

But what about digital photos that may live on the internet and social media apps? What happens to your digital footprint when you die? Every app and website has different policies on how your heirs can (or cannot) access your data.

It’s helpful to make a list of all the places you may have photos and other digital assets on the internet and physically around your home. I’ll help you get started.

In Your Home

• Current/old computers
• Current/old phones
• Current/old tablets
• Digital cameras
• SD cards
• USB and external hard drives
• CDs and floppy disks

Social Media

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Snapchat

Photo Sharing/Storage Sites

• iCloud
• Google Photos
• Amazon Photos
• SmugMug
• OneDrive/Dropbox/Google Drive
• Flickr
• Shutterfly
• Snapfish

Every Website Has a Policy

It’s important to know what policies are in place on these online sites. When you die, what will happen to your account? Will your loved ones and/or a digital executor be able to access your account and photos? Policies change over time so it’s good to revisit your favorite site’s guidelines occasionally.

Facebook

Facebook allows you to make some decisions while you are still alive. You can appoint Legacy Contacts who can do a limited number of things with your profile like add a final pinned post, respond to new friend requests, and update your profile picture and cover photo. Technically they cannot log into your account, but they can download a copy of what you’ve shared on Facebook if you have this feature turned on. That’s why I think it is important that you share that login information with a trusted loved one (see below).

BTW I never recommend using social media sites as your primary storage location because most compress your files and strip any metadata from the files including the date the photo was taken.

Instagram

Instagram’s policy is similar to Facebook’s in that your loved ones can have your account memorialized or removed upon your death but they do not allow for a Legacy Contact to be submitted before your death.

Shutterfly

Like Instagram, Shutterfly does not let you proactively make your account available to others after your death.  There is a process that your loved ones can go through to access any photos stored on this site which includes providing a copy of the death certificate and power of attorney.

Apple Photos

Recently Apple initiated a Legacy Contact for your iCloud account. Recently Apple created the Legacy Contact feature, which allows each person with an Apple ID to select someone who can access the account when the owner dies.

Your Legacy Contact (you can designate more than one) can access data in your iCloud account, such as photos, messages, notes, files, apps, and backups. They will not be able to access purchased items such as movies, music, or books or passwords and payment information stored in your Keychain.

Learn how to set up your Apple Legacy Contact here.

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One way to simplify this potential process for your loved ones is to consolidate all of your digital photos and videos to just one or two primary locations on the internet. You can still share photos wherever you want, but keep the primary copies in one place like on an external hard drive, or on SmugMug or Flicker. Of course, be sure to have multiple backups. 

By consolidating your digital assets, you now have a smaller digital footprint which will make the process of accessing your digital online assets easier for your family after your death.

Take These Steps Today

1. Write down where all your physical photos, videos, and memorabilia can be found. Be sure to include any identifying information and important details. 
2. Write down instructions for your family on what you would like them to do with all of these physical and digital memories after you are gone.
3. Make a list of all the online places where you have stored photos, videos, and personal blogs (your stories).  Record all of your online user names/passwords of sites where you keep photos and videos. Don’t forget social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. Keep this list updated in a password-protected spreadsheet, put handwritten copies in your safety deposit box (make sure someone has access to the key), or use a password keeper app like LastPass.
4. Assign a digital executor. Who do you want to execute your final wishes with your photographs? Do your photos need to be scanned and distributed to multiple people? Do you want your online accounts to be disabled or deleted when you die? Just like a traditional estate executor, a digital executor is a trusted individual who will make sure your wishes are carried out. 
5. Be sure someone (your digital executor, most likely) knows the access code to unlock your digital devices (phone, tablet, computer) which will hold your most recent photos. Apple intentionally makes it difficult to access a phone when you don’t know the unlock code.
6. Keep all of this information in a safe location such as a locked file cabinet or safe (if written), in a password-protected file on your computer, or in a hard copy held by your lawyer or trusted family friend.

My colleague Judith Kolberg has a good book on the topic of creating a digital estate plan that I recommend. It goes above and beyond just your digital photos.

A little planning now will be a welcome gift to your family upon your death.  What preparations have you made for the handling of your photos when you are gone?

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