Who owns your digital data after death: From accounts and photos to all private information

In today’s digital world, life does not really stay offline anymore. Almost everyone has online accounts, cloud photos, messages, and financial profiles. So when someone dies, a simple but sensitive question comes up: who actually gets access to all of this?

This is an area where legal, technology, and personal emotions all overlap, and this is becoming more relevant as our lives move further online.

Experts explain what happens to your accounts, data and passwords

According to Mumbai-based tax and investment expert Balwant Jain, the distribution of digital assets ultimately depends on the presence of a will. "If a will exists, the digital and financial assets are transferred as per its instructions; in the absence of a will, they devolve to the legal heirs under succession laws," said Balwant Jain.

Experts say India is gradually moving from platform-based policies towards a more structured legal approach to digital inheritance.

"The Gandhinagar Civil Court in the case of Sadhna Shaishav Shah & Anr. v. Apple Distribution International Limited held that iCloud data can form part of a deceased person’s estate and observed that the right to privacy does not survive death. Section 14 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, allows nomination of a person to exercise data rights after death or incapacity, including access and deletion," said Kinjal Shah, Vice President at BCAS.

“The Gandhinagar court ruling recognises digital data as part of a deceased person’s estate and allows legal heirs to manage such assets in the absence of a nominee, for estate administration purposes. It also notes that privacy rights do not continue after death in the same way,” said Soumen Mohanty, Partner, AQUILAW.

"In financial digital assets, a nominee acts as a custodian, while ownership continues to rest with legal heirs under succession law,” added Kinjal Shah.

As digital footprints continue to grow, questions around who controls a person’s online life after death are becoming increasingly important.