Photos, emails, social networks and online documents: our digital lives outlast us. People often speak of a “digital will”, but that term covers several distinct tools. Here is what French law provides, and how to use it.

This article provides general guidance; for advice about your own circumstances, consult a notary.

What the law says: instructions about your data

Since the 2016 Digital Republic Act, anyone can leave instructions about the retention, deletion and disclosure of their personal data after death. This right is now set out in Article 85 of the French Data Protection Act. There are two types of instructions:

  • Specific instructions, given directly to an online service such as Google, Facebook or Apple, often through its available settings.
  • General instructions, covering all your data, which were intended to be lodged with a trusted third party certified by the CNIL, France’s data protection authority. In practice, this register has not yet been established, so people entrust them to a loved one or a notary.

You can appoint someone to carry them out. Without instructions, your heirs can only request account closure and access certain information needed to settle the estate.

Settings on the major platforms

These are the most effective specific instructions because they apply automatically:

  • Google: Inactive Account Manager passes your data to chosen people after a period of inactivity.
  • Apple: a Legacy Contact can recover your iCloud photos and documents with the death certificate.
  • Facebook: a legacy contact manages your memorialised account.

We explain these settings service by service in our article on digital accounts after a death.

A conventional will

A will prepared with a notary, or handwritten, dated and signed, can include wishes about your digital life: who receives your photos, who manages your accounts and what should be deleted. It should never contain your passwords, however, because several people may read it and it is not a secure place for them. For valuable digital assets such as cryptocurrency, copyright or online shops, a notary remains an essential adviser.

What the law does not cover: messages for loved ones

Instructions concern data. They say nothing about what you want to say to your loved ones: a letter to your daughter, a video for your grandson’s twentieth birthday, an audio message for your partner. This content needs to be prepared, kept and passed on to the right person at the right time.

That is the role of DUNELIA: a private space where you prepare letters, photos, videos and audio messages, passed on only after a person has verified the death.

Where to start

  1. Enable the relevant Google, Apple and Facebook settings: ten minutes is enough.
  2. List your accounts and subscriptions, without passwords, and tell a loved one where the list is.
  3. Set out your main wishes in your will.
  4. Prepare the messages you want to leave for the people you love.

For an overview, read our complete guide to digital legacy.