The OpenID Foundation has published a framework proposing coordinated action across governments, platforms, and standards bodies to address digital estate management.
According to the official press release, when a person dies, their email accounts, social media profiles, cryptocurrency holdings, and cloud-stored photos do not disappear. In most cases, no standardised process exists to manage them. The OpenID Foundation (OIDF) has released a report, The Unfinished Digital Estate, outlining a framework for cross-sector collaboration to address systemic gaps in how digital accounts and assets are handled after death.
The report draws on legal analysis, technical evaluation, and cultural practices across multiple countries. It identifies inconsistencies at every level: platforms, jurisdictions, and industries each apply different approaches, with no interoperable or globally recognised standards in place.
A fragmented landscape
Some large technology platforms offer legacy contact tools, though adoption remains low. Others direct families to use the deceased's credentials — a practice that can conflict with both terms of service and local law. Many services offer no formal process at all. Government responses are similarly uneven, with some jurisdictions granting partial fiduciary access rights, others deferring to platform policies, and many focusing on awareness rather than enforceable frameworks.
The report adds urgency to this issue by pointing to the rise of artificial intelligence. AI tools can now generate posthumous avatars and deepfakes of deceased individuals, raising unresolved questions around consent and control. Unauthorised recreations have already prompted legal disputes, yet no frameworks currently exist for individuals to specify whether, or how, their likeness may be used after death.
Cultural variation compounds the challenge further. Differing norms around privacy, grief, and remembrance blur the boundaries between personal data, identity, and property rights across jurisdictions.
The report sets out distinct responsibilities for policymakers, platforms, and standards bodies. Policymakers are called upon to formally recognise digital assets in inheritance law, clarify identity rights and privacy protections after death, and develop cross-border frameworks for digital property. Technology platforms are asked to move beyond credential sharing towards delegation-based access, implement verifiable processes for death and incapacitation, and provide users with controls over posthumous data use. Standards bodies are encouraged to design interoperable delegation protocols, develop trust frameworks for estate services, and ensure that solutions account for cultural diversity.
While some technical approaches already exist — including guardianship credentials from Sovrin, delegation frameworks from the Kantara Initiative, and death registration integrations within the MOSIP ecosystem — these remain isolated efforts without coordination.
Practical guidance and next steps
Alongside the report, the OIDF has released a Digital Estate Planning Guide for individuals and the professionals advising them. The guide acknowledges that even thorough planning faces real limits where platforms lack interoperable systems, and that accessing an account without authorisation may violate law or terms of service regardless of the account owner's expressed wishes.
The OIDF's Death and Digital Estate (DADE) Community Group, which produced the report, is seeking contributors from government agencies, legal services, insurance, financial services, healthcare, technology, and the death care sector. Representatives are scheduled to attend identity and technology events through June 2025 to discuss collaboration opportunities.
