You must have wondered about your Gmail account and what will happen to it if you die? Will your spouse be able to access it? Should you give away your passwords to your wife in order to not lose your Gmail account as it may have some really important data.
Will it close down? After how much time?
Yes, after your death, Your gmail account will close down after 9 months because of inactivity.
Can my Spouse use my Gmail Account?
As per Google terms and conditions, anyone using your Gmail account other than you, will be illegal and impersonating a Gmail user is a violation of the Gmail terms of service .
As per their terms of service, Your spouse will require to fill in the form as required by Google and submit it. Only on rare cases, they will provide the credentials to your spouse. But, with those, your spouse will only be able to access your mails only. Your spouse will not be able to send or receive mail on your gmail ID.
If Google finds out that someone (Your spouse is on the list of someone) is accessing your Gmail, it will automatically delete your account and you will lose all your data.
To fill in the form that is required to be filled by your spouse, after your death ,
Click here
Gmail is a service, not a product, and use of that service is non-transferrable as per Gmail’s TOS.
Hurdles to be faced!
Here’s the list of documents that are required to be submitted to
- A Copy of death certificate is required
- A Copy of marriage certificate is required
- A Government ID Proof
Despite all these, Gmail does not guarantee you(rather,your spouse) to provide the credentials.
Long procedure but very secure! The question still remains, Will Indians follow all these procedures? Anyways, Gmail is far more secure service than any other mail services available today.
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