When someone passes on from this world, one thing that many of us never put into context is what happens to their online accounts. Naturally, an online company cannot know about the death most of the time, so closing the accounts is not something they can do. Even then, many people like to keep accounts open as a memory, or even as a way to recall the life and celebration of their existence.

If you would rather get rid of your Match.com profile when you die, or you want to remove one for a now-deceased friend or family member, you can do so with ease.

Did You Have a Plan?

Not everyone considers what to do with their online accounts – if you did, though, you need to leave a legally binding plan. You should leave details for logging into the account, and what they are to do with the account when they log in. This allows for notification to those who you know about the death, and also to make sure that it can be removed without issue.

However, Match.com states that your “account is non-transferable and all of your rights to your profile or contents within your account terminate upon your death.” So, what does this mean?

Basically, Match.com won’t care if someone logs in to notify people of your death. If they find out that you – or the account holder – died, they won’t allow changes to be made. Instead, upon discovery of a death, they usually just delete the account with all contacts and memories attached to it also gone.

If you do delete, then it can re-activated within a year as they store all profile data for a year after de-activation. However, they also keep personal details for an undetermined period of time for legal issues, so this can be useful for record-keeping.

What to Do

Your best bet is to simply remove the account before you die. While you can’t exactly plan for when you will leave this world, you can be pre-emptive and remove your account in advance of any knowledge about your impending demise, such as when you have found love and no longer need an account.

Another option is to simply instruct someone to log on for you and do it, such as an executor. You can leave details, and allow them to ask Match to delete the account for you. Match.com has no official process for this, weirdly, so expect a bit of resistance if you try and get rid of your account.

The other way to potentially get rid of the account is the mere passing of time. Although there is no official inactivity policy prior to inactivation, server demands will dictate otherwise. If your account lies dormant for many years, it may eventually be removed anyway.

Without making a plan for what to do with your Match account, it merely lies open until someone takes action, either you or on your behalf. If you do not make a plan, then there’s not much you can do to combat the issue and love struck men and women across the land will continue to pine after, wondering why you haven’t responded tot heir digital advances…ah bless them.

If you want to take control of what happens next, be sure to either de-activate yourself or leave clear instructions in your will for your Executor to carry out.