With so much of our lives online these days, many are curious as to what exactly happens to your digital stuff when you die? Currently, neither the U.S. nor Canada have consistent laws that treat digital data and accounts like physical goods, to be distributed via an estate plan after death.

Too often families are caught between estate laws (which grant them access to digital data) and privacy laws (which would forbid it). Some people create “social media wills” or share their passwords with a trusted person, while others use commercial services like LegacyLocker.com and SecureSafe.com, which allow people to store their account information in one place.

(Read more: Why Your Clients Should Be Concerned With the Federal “Death Tax”)

Without access to passwords and account details for the deceased, families must work within the guidelines of each individual tech company to gain access to their loved ones’ data. This can be a difficult process because most companies approach these situations differently.

This is a guide to navigate how some major internet companies handle the accounts of the deceased as of the end of 2012.

Google

• Won’t disclose passwords for Gmail or for its social network, Google+, or transfer ownership of an account.
• Won’t deactivate an account without a court order.
• May provide contents of a dead user’s account if family mails or faxes proof of the death and family connection, and family meets additional legal requirements such as an order from a U.S. court.
• Doesn’t offer Facebook-style “memorialization” for Google+ accounts.

(Read more: Estate Tax On the Rise, Don’t Panic, Plan)

Facebook

• Won’t disclose passwords or transfer ownership of an account.
• Will remove an account upon request of the family
• Will “memorialize” accounts if notified (not necessarily by a family member) that the user has died. Memorialization prevents anybody from logging into the account but allows friends to post remembrances and memorials to the deceased person’s account.
• Won’t disclose the contents of a deceased user’s account without a legal process.

Yahoo

• Won’t disclose passwords.

• If a user wants his family to have access to his account and after his death, Yahoo recommends he provide consent and his account information (username, password and/or answers to challenge questions) in his estate plans. Otherwise Yahoo won’t provide families data from the accounts of dead people.
• Will deactivate an account if the estate provides a death certificate via fax or email.

(Read more: Why You Need to Put Your Living Together Agreement in Writing)

Microsoft

• Won’t disclose passwords or transfer ownership of a Hotmail/Outlook.com account.
• Doesn’t consider it a violation for surviving family that gets a court order or otherwise has authority from the deceased to use his or her password to log into the account.
• Will deactivate an account upon the request of family.
• May provide contents of a dead user’s email if family contacts Microsoft via email and provides other documentation, which depends on location.

Twitter

• Won’t disclose passwords.
• Doesn’t disclose account data without a court order in the U.S.
• Doesn’t offer Facebook-style “memorialization” of accounts.
• Will deactivate an account if a family contacts Twitter with a copy of death certificate, a notarized statement, and other details.

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• Won’t disclose passwords or transfer ownership of an account.
• Will remove an account from public view if requested by immediate family.
• Won’t disclose account data without a court order in the U.S.
• Doesn’t offer “memorialization” of accounts.

LinkedIn

• Won’t disclose passwords for accounts, or transfer ownership of an account.
• Allows others (even beyond family members or executors) to report the death of a member, which causes the account and its data to be hidden from public view. People reporting deceased members usually must know the email address associated with the deceased person’s account.
• If a family specifically requests it, will delete an account and all of its data.
• Will not provide account data to others, including family members, unless required by a court.
• Doesn’t offer Facebook-style “memorialization” for accounts.

Read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/01/04/what-to-do-online-when-a-loved-one-dies/

Marc H. Wander is a partner of the Bloomfield Hills law firm of Witzke, Berry, Carter &Wander, PLLC. Marc has been licensed to practice law in Michigan since 1992. Marc’s practice is devoted to estate planning and business succession planning.  Marc is a member of the Probate and Estate Planning Section of the State Bar of Michigan and is a prior Chairperson of the Oakland County Bar Association Tax Committee. He is a frequent continuing education speaker to insurance agents, financial advisors, CPA’s and financial industry organizations. He has also been heard on WJR Radio. Follow Marc on Twitter @MarcWander