We’re sure that there are many who are probably what will happen to our online accounts and services when we die. Can you legally pass it onto a relative? How does one go about closing that account? And things like that. That’s something that Nicholas Scandalios has been trying to figure out when he tried to access his husband’s iCloud Photos.
His husband, Ric Swezey, died two years ago in an accident and Scandalios has been trying to access his iCloud Photos to retrieve photos that were taken of them together. However Apple seems to have denied his request, stating that he would need a court order. Thankfully it seems that the judge has granted said order.
According to Surrogate Judge Rita Mella, she has granted the order in which it says that Apple will give Scandalios the opportunity to retrieve his photos. “Apple shall afford the opportunity to reset the password to [Swezey’s] Apple ID.” However as you can see, it’s not outright access as Scandalios will need to reset the Apple ID password to Swezey’s account before being able to access it.
That being said, given that a vast majority of online services are still “new”, we suppose they haven’t had much time to really consider how to handle the accounts belonging to the deceased, but hopefully it will be an easier process in the future without having to resort to court orders and getting lawyers involved.