Digital Legacy, Privacy and Consent: What Should Happen to Your Data After Death?

Written by , founder of Solexi.ai.

This page is about decisions, not doctrine. If the law cannot yet tell your family what should happen to your data, you can. Below is the set of consent choices worth making while you are able to make them — and the reasons each one matters.

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What should happen to your data after death?

There is no default answer waiting for you. Left unstated, the outcome is decided by whichever platform holds the data and whichever relative asks first. Published research on post-mortem privacy describes awareness as low, platform mechanisms as limited and regulatory clarity as lacking — which is precisely why the decision falls back to you.

The useful framing is per-category rather than global: financial records, working documents, photographs, private messages and public profiles each deserve a different answer.

Who should decide?

Someone will decide. The only variable is whether it is you, in advance, or a combination of an executor, a family member and a provider support agent afterwards. Naming a decision-maker is itself a decision, and it works best when the person is told rather than discovered.

What should family members see?

Most people, asked directly, want their family to have the photographs, the practical documents and the instructions — and want them to have nothing else. That is a coherent position, but it only survives if it is written down, because a family with full account access cannot un-see the rest.

What should remain private?

Private does not mean shameful. Work correspondence involving other people's confidences, medical history, drafts, journals and conversations that belong to a friendship rather than to a family are all ordinary reasons to close a door permanently.

Should old messages remain accessible?

Message archives always involve someone else. Anyone reading yours also reads a friend's side of a conversation they never expected to be published. Deciding this in advance protects people who are not in the room.

What about photos and videos?

This is usually the easy category and the one most often lost anyway, because the images sit in a cloud account nobody can open. If you make only one decision, make it this one, and make it operable: say who should receive them and make sure that person can actually get in.

Should an AI be allowed to represent you?

Voice, image and writing style can be reconstructed from ordinary personal data. Some people find a synthetic version of themselves comforting for their children; others find it intolerable. There is no legal default protecting either position, so the answer has to be stated explicitly.

  • May your voice be reproduced synthetically?
  • May your likeness appear in generated images or video?
  • May your writing be used to generate new messages "from" you?
  • Who, if anyone, is allowed to authorize this later?

What consent should be given in advance?

Advance consent is not a legal instrument here; it is an instruction that makes every other actor's job possible. It should say what may be accessed, by whom, for what purpose, and what must never be opened.

Different permissions for different people

Access is not one switch. A spouse, an executor, an adult child and a business partner all need different things, and granting the widest access to everyone is the most common way an otherwise careful plan fails.

  • Executor: financial records, subscriptions, official documents.
  • Spouse or partner: shared household and family material.
  • Children: photographs, letters, family history.
  • Business partner: only the business accounts, and nothing personal.

Death versus incapacity

Incapacity removes your access without granting anyone else's. Instructions written only for death leave the harder and more likely scenario unaddressed, so each decision above should be answered twice: once for death, once for temporary or permanent incapacity.

Changing your decisions over time

Consent recorded once and never revisited becomes inaccurate quickly. Relationships change, roles change, accounts change. Treat these answers as a document with a review date, not a one-time act.

Why consent should be documented clearly

Verbal wishes are contested; written ones are followed. A short, dated, findable document naming who may do what is worth more in practice than any amount of good intention, and it gives an executor something concrete to show a provider.

Solexi.ai is being designed around the principle that preserving information does not automatically mean making all information accessible. Digital continuity should respect user intent, privacy and defined access.

The checklist, section by section

Have I decided…

Access and privacy

  • Who may access my digital information?
  • What should remain private?
  • What should be deleted?
  • What should be preserved?
  • What may be shared with family?

Accounts, AI and incapacity

  • What should happen to my social accounts?
  • Whether AI may use my voice, image or data?
  • What should happen if I am incapacitated?
  • When will I review these answers again?

Answer these on paper or in your own private notes. This page does not collect, transmit or store any answers.

This checklist is editorial guidance, not legal advice. Nothing you read here is recorded by Solexi.ai.

Pricing, in plain words

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  • Lifetime access, 10 GB included
  • No monthly subscription, no renewal

Frequently asked questions

Is a written statement of my digital wishes legally binding?

Not necessarily. Its force depends on your jurisdiction and on how it relates to your will. Its practical value is high regardless, because it tells your family and executor what you wanted and gives providers something to act on. Confirm the legal weight with a lawyer or notary.

Should I give everyone the same level of access?

No. Different people need different things, and granting universal access is the most common way a careful plan ends up exposing material that was meant to stay private.

Does Solexi.ai store my answers to this checklist?

No. This page is editorial. Nothing entered or considered here is collected, transmitted or stored.

How often should I revisit these decisions?

At least once a year, and after any change of phone number, primary email address, relationship or executor.

Sources & Further Reading

The organizations, researchers and professionals referenced on this page do not necessarily endorse, partner with or have any relationship with Solexi.ai. They are cited as independent sources documenting issues related to digital legacy and continuity.

Last reviewed : 2026-08-28

Solexi does not replace a legal will, a notary or a lawyer. Solexi helps you gather, organize and pass on your information.

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