Email, photos in the cloud, the bank on your phone, cryptocurrency: after death or during serious illness all of it stays behind passwords nobody knows. Providers do not hand passwords to the family, so only what you set up during your lifetime works. This chapter covers what you can set up, what you cannot, and what to do today.

The general rule

• Passwords and logins are not inherited. What is inherited is what sits in the account and has value: money, cryptocurrency on an exchange, economic copyright in photos and texts.
• Logging in to someone else's email without consent, also after death, carries a risk of criminal liability (Art. 267 of the Polish Criminal Code) and breaks the terms of service.
• A power of attorney ends on death (Art. 101 § 2 of the Civil Code, KC). During life an attorney can act; after death only the heirs can, through the institutions.

What works: tools you set up during your lifetime

Google: Inactive Account Manager

• You name up to 10 people.
• When you have not used the account for the period you chose, Google first warns you and then emails those people a link to download the data you selected (e.g. Gmail, Drive, Photos).
• You can also decide that the account should be deleted.
• Without a plan, Google may delete an account that has been inactive for at least 2 years.

Apple: Legacy Contact

• After your death, the person you name gets access to photos, messages, notes, files and backups in iCloud.
• They need the access key they receive during setup and a death certificate.
• They do not get the iCloud Keychain (passwords, passkeys, cards) or purchased films, music, books and subscriptions.

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn

Facebook lets you name a legacy contact who looks after the profile once it is memorialised. Instagram and LinkedIn memorialise or close an account at the family's request. None of them allows logging in as the deceased. Check the scope and the required documents in each service's help pages, because they change more often than the law.

What providers do not hand over

• Google: passwords or login details. The family can request that the account be closed, and releasing data depends on verification. Once the account is closed, data can no longer be requested.
• Microsoft (Outlook, OneDrive): there is no legacy tool. The account is frozen after a year of inactivity and expires after 2 years. Data is released only on a court order.
• Apple: the iCloud Keychain.
• Bank: the online banking login. Never.

Email from Polish providers

• WP Poczta: no legacy tool. Its terms say that the account is deleted after 180 days without login and that WP is not obliged to disclose the password after the user's death.
• Interia, Onet (including vp.pl) and others: they also delete inactive mailboxes. Check the time limits in your provider's terms.

Log in regularly to every mailbox you use, and note in the folder what is in it and what should happen to it.

Online banking

• Do not log in to the online banking of a person who is ill or has died, even if you know the password.
• During life: an attorney for the account gets their own access at the bank. The co-holder of a joint account has their own.
• After death: the heir goes to the bank with a court decision or a notarial certificate of inheritance (akt poświadczenia dziedziczenia, APD). The bank pays out on the basis of documents, not a password.

Public services

• e-Urząd Skarbowy (online tax office) and PUE ZUS (social insurance portal): during life an attorney can act (PPO-1, UPL-1, PEL). On death the power of attorney ends.
• Profil Zaufany (trusted profile for e-government) and mObywatel (the state ID app) are personal. According to the Profil Zaufany manual they are cancelled once the death is entered in the PESEL register. If in doubt, ask the office.

Cryptocurrency

On an exchange

Exchanges have inheritance procedures. They usually require a death certificate, a document confirming inheritance and verification of the heir's identity. Check the details on the exchange's website. If the exchange goes bankrupt, the heir inherits a claim against it, not the coins themselves.

In your own wallet

Without the recovery phrase (12 or 24 words) the funds are lost forever. Nobody can recover them.

• Do not keep the phrase in an ordinary file, a photo, an email or openly in the paper folder.
• Write it on a steel plate or on paper in a safe, or hand it over in a sealed envelope to a notarial deposit.
• You can split it into parts (e.g. 2 of 3, using the Shamir method) and keep them with different people or in different places. A multi-signature wallet works in a similar way.
• If you use an extra passphrase, keep it separately.
• Leave instructions in the folder: which wallet, which network, where the parts are, whom to ask for help. Add a warning about scammers who offer to "recover cryptocurrency".

Password managers

• Bitwarden: emergency access. You name a person, choose read-only or account takeover, and set a waiting period. During that time you can approve the request early or reject it.
• 1Password: the Emergency Kit, a PDF with the sign-in address, email, Secret Key and a space for the password. Print it for the safe or give a copy to a trusted person.
• LastPass also has emergency access. Check the details with the provider.
• Passwords stored in Google and in the Apple Keychain are part of the account. Apple explicitly excludes the Keychain from Legacy Contact access.

Domains, subscriptions, photos

• Domains: note the registrar, the expiry date and who the holder is. An unpaid domain expires and can then be taken by someone else. Turn on automatic renewal.
• Subscriptions: note the amount, the card (last 4 digits) and the renewal date. During incapacity an attorney usually cancels them through the bank.
• Photos and cloud storage: where they are, whether there is an offline copy, what should go to the family and what should be deleted.

How Czerwona teczka does it

• Documents zone: a list of accounts without passwords. Service name, login, customer number, what to do with the account (close, memorialise, download photos) and whether the provider's tool has been set up.
• Vault: things that cannot be passed on any other way, e.g. the password manager password, the phone code, the alarm PIN, instructions for a crypto wallet or one part of the phrase. The Vault is encrypted in your browser before anything reaches the server. The server does not know the key.
• You print the recovery code on an envelope card. Seal the envelope, sign across the seal and keep it in a home safe or a notarial deposit, not where the device with the app is.
• Emergency access: you name trusted people. When one of them requests access, the waiting period you set has to pass. You get notifications and can refuse with one click. If you do not respond, access is granted.
• What not to store anywhere in the app: card PINs, SMS codes, full card numbers with CVV, banking passwords, the whole crypto phrase in a single entry.
• The Czerwona teczka team will never ask you by email for a password, a recovery code or a death certificate.

What to set up today

1. Google: set up the Inactive Account Manager and name your people.
2. Apple: add a Legacy Contact and give them the access key.
3. Facebook: name a legacy contact or decide to have the account deleted after death.
4. Password manager: turn on emergency access or print the emergency kit for the safe.
5. Bank: give a trusted person a power of attorney for your account so they have their own access.
6. WP, Interia, Onet mail: log in to each mailbox so it does not expire, and note in the folder what is in it.
7. Cryptocurrency: write down the recovery phrase offline and leave access instructions in the folder.
8. Domains and subscriptions: turn on automatic domain renewal, list subscriptions with renewal dates.
9. In Czerwona teczka: fill in the account list in the Documents zone, print the envelope card and add trusted people.
10. Every 6-12 months: go through the list and check that everything is still up to date.

Sources

As of 4.10.2026.

• Google, Inactive Account Manager: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3036546
• Google, deceased user's account: https://support.google.com/accounts/troubleshooter/6357590
• Apple, Legacy Contact: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102631
• Microsoft, deceased user's account: https://support.microsoft.com/pl-pl/account-billing/uzyskiwanie-dost%C4%99pu-do-us%C5%82ugi-outlook-com-onedrive-i-innych-us%C5%82ug-firmy-microsoft-w-razie-%C5%9Bmierci-u%C5%BCytkownika-ebbd2860-917e-4b39-9913-212362da6b2f
• WP Poczta, terms of service: https://pomoc.wp.pl/regulamin
• Bitwarden, Emergency access: https://bitwarden.com/help/emergency-access/
• 1Password, Emergency Kit: https://support.1password.com/emergency-kit/
• Facebook, legacy contact: https://about.fb.com/news/2015/02/adding-a-legacy-contact/
• Instagram, memorialisation: https://help.instagram.com/151636988358045
• LinkedIn, deceased member: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a1380121
• Profil Zaufany, user manual: https://pz.gov.pl/Instrukcja_Uzytkownika_PZ_wersja1.3.pdf
• Civil Code (Kodeks cywilny), consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 795: https://api.sejm.gov.pl/eli/acts/DU/2026/795/text.pdf

This is information, not legal advice; as of 4.10.2026.