Features

Money in the bank

While some families might decide to let email accounts die with their owners, few would be willing to forego cash that's stored in online accounts. Obviously, banks have set procedures for dealing with the next of kin of deceased account holders, and whether or not the person in question banked online is irrelevant.

However, banks aren't the only places where people hoard money online. Ebay customers, for example, could well have hundreds or thousands of pounds stashed in their PayPal accounts after selling goods. What happens to that money?

PayPal has a lengthy 17-point user agreement for customers in the European Union, but it contains the word death just once. "Nothing in this Agreement shall limit our liability for death or personal injury resulting from our negligence or our subcontractors' or breach of this Agreement." It seems PayPal is more worried about killing its customers than working out what happens when they die of their own accord.

Bemused but unperturbed, we asked the PayPal press office to explain the procedure. In a similar vein to Gmail and Hotmail, PayPal demands that executors send copies of the death certificate and the will to its US offices. "The faxed documentation will be reviewed and, if approved, the account will be closed. If funds are available in the PayPal account, the PayPal balance will be transferred to the registered bank account on the PayPal account or a wire transfer can be issued at the cost of $40."

It all seems a horrendous palaver and, if the deceased's bank account has already been closed, relatives could be forced to pay $40 just to retrieve the funds. Would it not be easier for executors to log in and clean the account

ADVERTISEMENT

out themselves? "Practically speaking, if Ebay doesn't know that individual has died and somebody comes along and they've given the correct password, the executors probably could access it," says Grosberg. "But the executors would normally be under a duty to advise all relevant parties, including Ebay, that the individual has died. Otherwise, they could go along to HSBC, NatWest or whoever and access money in those accounts without telling people they've died, which is technically fraud."

Data locked on your PC

While Google, PayPal and the like certainly make relatives jump through hoops to retrieve their loved one's data, at least you know that data is there, stored safely on the company's servers. But what about the digital photos, documents and other valuable data trapped on the deceased's computer, for which you don't have the password?

We asked Microsoft whether it would assist a family who didn't know the Windows password of a dead relative, but it declined to comment. However, number 37 of Microsoft's top 50 Knowledge Base questions is, "How to log on to Windows XP if you forget your password or if your password expires." The prognosis isn't good. "If you've forgotten the password for all user accounts, and if you did not create a password reset disk [and, frankly, who's got one of those?], you cannot log on to Windows XP. This is for security reasons. If this problem occurs, you must reinstall Windows XP." Provided Windows is installed over the top of the existing OS without a disk reformat, your personal data should survive the reinstall, but it isn't without risk - and it's a procedure littered with pitfalls for the technically naive.

Removing the hard disk and connecting it to another PC or running a live Linux distribution from its CD are alternative methods of retrieving the data. Again, such procedures might come as second nature to PC Pro readers, but are a daunting prospect for amateurs. The less technically minded could turn to the professionals. We rang Ontrack (www.ontrack.co.uk), posing as a son who wanted to retrieve the photos from his dead father's password-protected PC. We were told it would cost £75 for the drive scan and a hefty £495-£995 for the recovery of the data. Not a cheap option.