How to close a deceased person's Apple account
Apple handles closing a deceased person's account through an online form. The steps below are Apple's own published process, taken from its official support pages — this page organizes them so you can see what the provider asks for; it doesn't add to them or recommend any particular action.
What you'll need
- Certified copy of the death certificate
- A court order
- Your government-issued photo ID
Steps
- Check whether the deceased added you as a Legacy Contact — the access key may be in your Apple Account settings, printed out, or in their estate documents. With the access key and their death certificate, start a Legacy Contact access request on Apple's Digital Legacy website.
- To permanently delete a deceased person's Apple Account and data, start a deletion request on the Digital Legacy website; you need your own Apple Account, the Apple Account to be deleted, and the legal documentation required for your country.
- Without a Legacy Contact, in the U.S. you can request access with a court order naming you as the rightful inheritor, specifying the deceased's name and Apple Account, that you are the legal personal representative/agent/heir, and ordering Apple to assist. Only one person can request access; contact Apple Support with the order.
- Apple requires and verifies legal documentation before assisting — generally a death certificate, and possibly a court order or other documents. Some data is end-to-end encrypted and Apple cannot decrypt it; you may be prompted for a device passcode.
- After a Legacy Contact or deletion request completes, Activation Lock is removed automatically from the deceased's devices, which must then be erased before reuse.
Closing one account is only part of the job — every recurring charge still draws on a card or bank account the estate will eventually claim. HeirLoft reads the recurring charges straight out of an inbox in one pass, so you can see everything that's still billing while you work down the list.
Surface every recurring charge in one place
How to contact Apple (Apple Account / iCloud)
If Apple Digital Legacy (Legacy Contact) was set up
Apple offers Apple Digital Legacy (Legacy Contact), which lets an account holder designate someone in advance. If the deceased set it up and named you, you may have a faster path through that feature than through the general process above — check for it before starting a request.
Typical timeline
Apple does not publish a typical timeline for this process.
Notes
Legacy Contacts cannot access purchased movies, music, books or subscriptions, or iCloud Keychain data (passwords, payment information, passkeys).
Sources
Last reviewed September 14, 2026 · Links verified September 14, 2026
Related guides
The simplest way to spare your own family this process is to keep an up-to-date list of your accounts somewhere they can find it. HeirLoft finds the recurring charges you've forgotten and keeps them in one place your heirs can actually use.