What to Do With Domain Names and Websites After Someone Dies

What to Do With Domain Names and Websites After Someone Dies

If someone who has died owned a website or domain name, do not rush to cancel anything. The domain, the hosting account and the connected email address may be the keys to banked income, business records, customer messages and access to other online services.

The safest first move is to preserve access, stop accidental expiry and work out exactly who controls what.

Why the order matters

A website is rarely just one thing. It is usually a bundle of connected services, such as:

• the domain name itself
• web hosting
• business email
• payment for renewals
• a website builder account such as Squarespace
• a registrar account such as GoDaddy
• DNS settings that point traffic and email to the right place

If the wrong piece is cancelled first, you can lose much more than the website. For example, if the email inbox tied to the registrar account disappears first, account recovery may become much harder. If the domain expires, the site can go offline and the name may become harder or more expensive to recover.

First steps in the first day or two

Do these before you think about redesigning, closing or transferring anything:

1. Find out the domain name or names involved.
2. Identify where the website is hosted.
3. Check which email address receives renewal notices.
4. Look for saved passwords, billing emails, invoices or renewal reminders.
5. Keep active payment methods under review so a critical renewal does not fail by accident.
6. Download or back up the website files, customer data and key emails if you can do so lawfully.

If the website belonged to a business, charity or side income stream, act fast. A dead website can mean missed donations, missed sales, bounced emails and confused customers.

Work out who controls the domain

Families often assume the website host and the domain registrar are the same company. They are not always. One company may host the site, another may hold the domain registration, and a third may run the business email.

Try to identify:

• the registrar, which manages the domain name
• the hosting provider or site builder
• the email provider
• any third-party developer, freelancer or agency who helped run the site

If you do not know the registrar, an ICANN lookup can help with many generic domains such as .com or .org. For .uk domains and other country-code domains, the route may differ and the registrar’s own terms matter.

What providers usually ask for

Exact rules vary, but large providers commonly ask for some combination of:

• a death certificate or obituary
• proof that you are the executor, administrator or legal representative
• photo ID
• a written request explaining what access is needed

GoDaddy, for example, says the estate administrator must submit a request together with proof of appointment, a death certificate and ID. Squarespace also has a deceased-user process and says legal representatives can request billing and management access for a site.

That is the pattern to expect across many platforms: they will not usually hand over control just because a relative asks. They will want evidence of authority.

Decide whether to keep the site running, pause it or close it

Once you understand the setup, make an active decision.

Keep it running

This is often the right choice if the site belongs to:

• a business still trading
• a charity or community group
• a memorial page the family wants to preserve
• a portfolio, archive or information site with long-term value

If you keep it live, update billing and record who is now responsible for renewals.

Pause it

Sometimes the kindest option is to stop public updates while preserving the asset underneath. You might keep the domain renewed and the content backed up, but take the site offline temporarily while the family decides what to do.

Close it

If there is no practical or emotional reason to keep it, close it only after you have:

• copied any important records
• preserved email access or exported what is needed
• confirmed nobody else relies on the site
• checked whether subscriptions, ads or customer payments are attached to it

Watch the expiry timeline closely

ICANN says registrars for many generic domains must send renewal reminders before expiry and a notice shortly after expiry. For many gTLDs, there is then a redemption grace period of around 30 days if the name has been deleted, followed by a short pending delete stage before release.

The practical lesson is simple: expired does not always mean gone immediately, but you should not rely on rescue windows unless you have checked the exact registrar rules. Fees can rise sharply once a domain enters redemption.

For .uk domains and some other domain endings, the process may differ, so always read the registrar’s terms rather than assuming one global rule covers everything.

Do not forget the email account

In many cases, the email address linked to the domain is more important than the website itself. It may receive:

• renewal notices
• password reset links
• customer enquiries
• supplier invoices
• legal or tax correspondence

If you lose that inbox, the rest of the recovery process becomes much harder. Treat the email account as part of the same asset, not an afterthought.

If the website belonged to a business

A business or side-income website needs a wider review. Check for:

• payment processors
• booking tools
• downloadable products
• newsletters
• advertising accounts
• customer data and privacy obligations

In that situation, the website is not only a memorial or admin task. It may also be a live business asset with legal, tax and customer-service consequences.

A sensible way to keep control

This is a good place to use a checklist instead of memory. Record the registrar, host, email provider, renewal date, who has been contacted and what evidence was sent. GetPassage can help families keep that kind of digital-estate admin in one place, which reduces the chance of losing track of a domain renewal while everything else is going on.

The bottom line

When someone dies, a domain name or website can disappear quietly if nobody takes ownership of the admin fast enough. Preserve access first, confirm who legally has authority, protect the email account, and only then decide whether to keep, transfer or close the site.

That order gives you the best chance of saving what matters and avoiding a preventable digital mess on top of everything else.