After you’re gone, who gets your passwords?

As more of life moves online, a new question is emerging alongside traditional wills and estate plans: what happens to our digital accounts after we die?

A recent CyLab research paper, “Passing Down Passwords: How Older Adults Approach Postmortem Account Access and Digital Estate Planning,” sheds light on how older adults in the United States are navigating that challenge, and gives insights into areas where current tools and practices fall short.

Led by Jenny Tang and Owen Wu, Ph.D. students in Carnegie Mellon University’s Societal Computing program, the study explores how people over 60 think about managing their online accounts after death.

The findings, which Tang presented at April’s Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026) in Barcelona, reveal a landscape that is both practical and surprisingly informal.

Tang’s interest in digital estate planning began with an everyday conversation.

“I was actually talking with a friend whose parents went on vacation, and they left this document of all of their accounts and passwords in case something happened to them,” she said. “I just thought, ‘that’s wild. That is not something I would have thought of.’”

That moment prompted a broader question: as people accumulate more digital assets, such as subscriptions to online services, email addresses, and social media accounts, how are they preparing to pass those on?

“Traditional estate planning focuses on physical and financial assets, but it isn’t sufficient for things that are not part of the traditional estate, like online accounts and passwords,” said Tang.

To investigate, Tang and her collaborators conducted in-depth interviews with 21 older adults across the United States. Participants were recruited through community networks, mailing lists, and local outreach efforts, including postings around the Pittsburgh area.

The research built on earlier survey work exploring password-sharing behaviors, but shifted toward more detailed conversations about real-world practices, concerns, and expectations.

What emerged was a clear pattern: while digital lives are complex, the strategies people use to manage them after death are often simple and analog.

Despite the availability of password managers and platform-specific tools, many participants relied on handwritten records to store account information.

“A lot of them mentioned, ‘I have this sheet of paper, this little notebook with all of my passwords,’” said Tang. “‘And when I die, I want my heirs to just have access to that, and they can do whatever they want with it.”

Participants frequently expressed concerns about digital tools, particularly password managers. Some worried about security, and others feared making mistakes.

“What if I set it up wrong and delete all my passwords?” Tang recalled participants asking. “Or what if all my passwords get leaked because I clicked a button?”

While much prior research has focused on the “digital legacy” of how social media profiles, photos, and online identities persist after death, this study found that older adults prioritize financial access over concerns about continued web presence.

“Overwhelmingly, the participants said that their financial accounts are of utmost importance,” said Tang. “They want their heirs to have access to finances and to be provided for.”

This includes not only bank accounts, but also digital portals used to manage investments, pay bills, or access services. By contrast, social media and other purely digital content were often seen as less critical.

In some cases, participants reported that important photos and memories were already shared with family members or stored in the cloud, reducing concern about preserving them.

One of the study’s more surprising findings was the lack of concern about postmortem privacy.

“I was expecting people to say, ‘I don’t want to give out all my passwords,’” said Tang. “Whereas our participants overwhelmingly said, ‘after I’m dead, there should be no limitations to what information my heirs have access to.’”

Much like traditional estate planners or attorneys, future professionals could help individuals navigate the legal and technical complexities of digital assets.

Jenny Tang, Ph.D. student, Carnegie Mellon University

Many participants expressed an “all or nothing” mindset: heirs could either access everything or nothing at all. As long as information remained within trusted circles, privacy was not a major issue for the research participants.

Major technology companies already offer features designed to manage accounts after death, such as legacy contacts or inactive account settings. But the research team found that awareness of these tools was extremely low among participants.

“Almost none of our participants had heard about them,” said Tang.

Even when such features are available, inconsistent terminology and fragmented design can make them difficult to navigate.

“There’s ‘legacy,’ ‘memorialization,’ ‘inactive account manager,’” Tang noted. “Being able to say, ‘this is the type of feature I need’ would be very helpful.”

Based on their findings, the researchers argue that improving digital estate planning will require both better technology and better guidance.

On the technical side, they recommend clearer standardization across platforms, more customizable settings, and default options that reduce the burden on heirs.

But technology alone isn’t enough.

“It would be nice to have an expert help guide me,” said Tang, describing a common sentiment among participants. “Much like traditional estate planners or attorneys, future professionals could help individuals navigate the legal and technical complexities of digital assets.”

Such experts would need a hybrid skill set, understanding both estate law and the technical systems behind online accounts.

While this study focused on older adults, Tang sees broader implications as younger, more digitally immersed generations age.

“Is this also true for younger adults and people with more digital traces than the older adults we’ve studied to this point?” asked Tang. “Maybe what needs to be included in digital estate plans is going to change.”

Future research may explore how different populations value digital assets, how terminology and interface design affect usability, and how new professional roles might emerge to support digital estate planning.

For now, the study highlights a simple but important reality: even in a digital world, many people are still relying on analog solutions to manage their most sensitive online information.

And as Tang points out, it’s a topic that may be uncomfortable but is unavoidable.

“We’re all going to die at some point,” she said. “And someone has to do this work and figure out what is needed.”

CyLab Research Team

Jenny Tang, Owen Wu, Lujo Bauer, Nicolas Christin, and Lorrie Cranor