The death of a loved one typically comes not only with the immense emotional weight of grief, but also an onslaught of administrative tasks — a home to sell, a cell phone bill to cancel and belongings to offload. As we increasingly live our lives online, our deaths have become more digital as well. So when preparing for the inevitable, what should you do about your Google and Apple accounts — and what should you do if a loved one dies?

Much of how accounts are dealt with after a death has to do with whether the account holder made any preparations while living. Many platforms have programs to help you handle your digital legacy, but these require conscious decisions before death to transfer access to a trusted representative. Without this, the fate of accounts depends largely on the policies of the platforms in question, which vary across Apple and Google. Whether getting your own affairs in order or a loved one has recently passed and you're trying to decide what to do, here's what you should know.

The short answer is that nothing will happen to your Google account after death if you haven't planned for it, but the company is making it easier to manage legacy options. In 2013, Google launched an Inactive Account Manager tool, which allows users to specify what should be done with their account in the event that it becomes inactive for an extended period of time.

Through this program, users can request to have data deleted after three, six, or 12 months of inactivity.

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