A Squarespace account after death can involve a public website, a domain, business messages, and recurring bills. A family may want to preserve a portfolio while a colleague needs to answer customers. Start by identifying what needs attention today and who can coordinate decisions. Avoid making permanent changes before those people agree on the intended outcome.
Squarespace directs relatives and executors to request access when a site owner has died. The checklist below offers a practical way to prepare that request and organize the surrounding work. It does not establish who inherits the business or promise that a particular request will be approved. Confirm authority with the appropriate estate or business representative.
1. Build a small service inventory
Write down the public website address, the owner's name, known account email addresses, and the person who designed or maintained the site. Include any other websites the owner operated. Use records you are authorized to inspect, and distinguish confirmed details from guesses. A screenshot of the public homepage can help everyone identify the same project.
Create separate entries for the website subscription, domain registration, business email, scheduling, marketing tools, and payment providers. For each entry, record the provider, renewal date if known, current contact, and consequence of interruption. A domain connected to a website might be managed elsewhere, so check invoices instead of assuming everything belongs to one account.
Keep passwords, identity documents, and recovery codes out of this general inventory. Record where protected instructions can be found and who may use them. Choose a coordinator and a backup, then give each unresolved question an owner. This reduces duplicate support requests and makes it easier to explain what has already been tried.
2. Prepare the support request
The deceased-customer form asks for death-related evidence and any additional representation documents. Read its current instructions before submitting sensitive files.
Prepare a concise explanation with the site address, your relationship to the owner, and the requested outcome. Say whether you need access to preserve content, arrange continued operation, or discuss closure. Mention an approaching renewal or unresolved customer issue as a factual deadline, without assuming that it guarantees faster handling.
Ask support which documents apply to your situation and how to submit them securely. Keep the case number, submission date, and a copy of the request in a restricted folder. If an agency is helping, agree which person will communicate with support. Do not circulate identity documents through a broad family or staff email thread.
While the request is under review, maintain a short action log. Record replies, missing information, and the next follow-up date. Avoid promising relatives a handover date before support confirms the available options. If the site is already unavailable, ask about preservation and recovery before authorizing a new subscription or assuming the content still exists.
3. Identify existing contributor access
An administrator cannot transfer site ownership through the ordinary contributor permissions, according to Squarespace's role guide.
Ask the existing designer or colleague to describe what their own account can do. They may be able to handle agreed operational tasks while the ownership request proceeds. Record the scope of that work: updating a notice, answering an inquiry, or collecting an inventory. Do not treat the ability to edit a page as a decision about ownership of the business.
Use individual accounts and permissions appropriate to each helper's responsibilities. Avoid asking someone to impersonate the owner or reset the owner's login as a shortcut. Once an approved arrangement is in place, review old contributors with the responsible representative. Preserve the record of who changed what so that later decisions can be traced.
4. Preserve content deliberately
Squarespace's XML export covers selected content; it is not a complete website backup.
Make a preservation list before canceling anything. Include important pages, blog posts, original images, downloadable documents, branding files, and any custom work held by a designer. Ask an authorized operator to check what can be exported and what needs a separate copy. Keep a record of missing items rather than treating a successful download as proof that everything is saved.
Open the saved files and inspect a sample of text, images, and documents. If content is moved to another website, test that images are actually stored at the destination and remain available independently of the original site. Screenshots can document appearance, but editable source material is more useful for rebuilding. Store at least one additional protected copy in a different location.
Keep customer information separate from material intended for a family archive or memorial. Agree who needs access, what purpose the records serve, and when their retention should be reviewed. Do not publish private messages or customer files simply because they were found alongside public website content.
5. Review renewals and live commitments
List the next known charges and ask the responsible representative which expenses should continue during the transition. Record approvals and receipts. Before canceling a service, identify whether it supports the website, domain, email, or another operation. Ask the provider to clarify uncertain billing relationships instead of canceling solely because a charge looks unfamiliar.
For a business site, count outstanding orders, appointments, refund requests, and unanswered messages. Assign a person to each category. If nobody can deliver new work, have an authorized operator arrange an appropriate pause and a clear customer notice. Test the result from a visitor's perspective, including links that lead to external booking or checkout services.
Keep payment-provider questions in a separate list. Ask the relevant provider how to handle representative changes, outstanding balances, and refunds after the death. A website edit should not be treated as confirmation that financial account details have changed. Coordinate those decisions with the person responsible for business or estate funds.
6. Choose and verify the longer-term outcome
Agree whether the website will continue, become a static archive, move elsewhere, or close. Write down who can approve that choice, who will maintain the result, and how future costs will be handled. For an archive, name someone who can receive correction or removal requests. A memorial also needs a reachable contact.
After any approved handover, check access using the recipient's own account. Review billing contacts, domain contacts, support email, and connected services individually. Test important pages and customer contact routes. Save support confirmations with the inventory, and record any remaining dependency on the previous arrangement.
Owners planning ahead can rehearse this checklist with a trusted colleague. Ask them to locate a renewal, identify the site administrator, and find the content archive without using the owner's login. Resolve gaps while the owner can still approve changes, and review the plan when providers or staff change.
Your next step
Identify the website, the nearest renewal, and the person coordinating the request. Then gather the support information and preservation list before choosing a permanent outcome. Keep the resulting instructions with your digital legacy checklist so that the next helper can find both the plan and the limits of their role.