I'm getting extremely frustrated with Google. My Sister died suddenly in October last year.
I'm taking on the task of closing/gaining access to her various online accounts (Facebook, Twitter etc) in order to secure them and prevent unauthorised access.
The majority of companies I've dealt with have been easy to get her accounts shut down. However, Google are causing me real problems. I have attempted a password reset on her Gmail account but this was unsuccessful as I had insufficient details. I then followed Google's own guidelines here - https://support.google.com/mail/answer/14300?hl=en to attempt to gain access to my sisters Gmail account and faxed the relevant documents to them.
Google responded to my application but they now require a Court Order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction in the United States that meets the following criteria:
Which is all but impossible for me to organise considering that I'm a UK citizen and my sister's estate is being dealt with under English law, not to mention the expense involved.
What is even more annoying is the fact that Google have now introduced the new Inactive Account Manager service: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/plan-your-digital-afterlife-with.html which is designed for this situation.
I have no idea where to go from here, does anyone have any ideas?
I'm taking on the task of closing/gaining access to her various online accounts (Facebook, Twitter etc) in order to secure them and prevent unauthorised access.
The majority of companies I've dealt with have been easy to get her accounts shut down. However, Google are causing me real problems. I have attempted a password reset on her Gmail account but this was unsuccessful as I had insufficient details. I then followed Google's own guidelines here - https://support.google.com/mail/answer/14300?hl=en to attempt to gain access to my sisters Gmail account and faxed the relevant documents to them.
Google responded to my application but they now require a Court Order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction in the United States that meets the following criteria:
The Court Order must be addressed to Google Inc.
The Court Order must be signed by a judge with jurisdiction over the deceased user’s estate.
The Court Order must direct Google to provide the deceased user’s Gmail account content to the person requesting data.
The Court Order must specify the following:
A statement of jurisdiction over the deceased user’s estate
The full name of the deceased user
The deceased user’s Gmail account
The full name of the person requesting the contents of the deceased user’s Gmail account
Which is all but impossible for me to organise considering that I'm a UK citizen and my sister's estate is being dealt with under English law, not to mention the expense involved.
What is even more annoying is the fact that Google have now introduced the new Inactive Account Manager service: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/plan-your-digital-afterlife-with.html which is designed for this situation.
I have no idea where to go from here, does anyone have any ideas?