A Trello workspace can hold the working memory of a small business: customer requests, delivery deadlines, volunteer assignments, and decisions recorded in card comments. When its administrator dies, colleagues may still see their tasks while nobody knows who can change permissions or handle the next subscription renewal. Families may also be unsure which information belongs to the organization and which is personal.
Begin with an inventory and one agreed coordinator. Preserve necessary records, establish an authorized successor, and test the work that depends on the workspace. The following checklist is a practical continuity plan, not a statement that a family member automatically inherits an account or its contents.
1. Identify the workspace and the people responsible
Record the workspace URL, the deceased administrator's account email, the organization name, the subscription plan, and any known administrators. List the important boards separately, with their URLs and current board administrators. Include private boards only where you are authorized to know about them.
Choose someone to coordinate with the organization and the estate representative. Identify who can approve spending, who can handle confidential records, and who decides whether projects continue. Those decisions may belong to different people. Keep a dated action log so a helpful colleague does not cancel a subscription while another is preserving records.
For advance planning, connect this inventory to an online business continuity plan. Store recovery secrets securely and record their location rather than placing passwords in a shared board.
2. Check workspace and board access separately
Trello distinguishes workspace administration from permissions on individual boards. Review Atlassian's administrator guidance, particularly the different board access rules for Free and paid workspaces.
Ask an existing administrator to review available access using their own account. Check each critical board rather than assuming that seeing the workspace name proves control of every project. If an authorized successor needs a role change, use the documented membership process and verify the result after the change.
A technical role does not settle ownership of business records or permission to share personal information. Agree on the scope of the handover with the responsible representative. Keep routine task management separate from decisions about publishing, deleting, or transferring confidential material.
3. Understand recovery limits before promising a transfer
Atlassian's missing-administrator guidance says Support cannot appoint workspace administrators. Do not promise that reporting a death will transfer control.
Prepare a factual summary of the workspace, remaining access, billing records, and the representative's request. Ask Support which documented options apply to your situation and which evidence is needed for any billing assistance. Send sensitive records only through an appropriate support channel, and retain the case reference.
If company email or a managed identity account is involved, include the organization's IT administrator and follow its authorized procedures. The fact that someone can receive a reset email does not resolve whether they should access every part of the deceased person's account. Avoid improvised shared logins or attempts to bypass authentication.
4. Preserve board information and linked files
Create a preservation list before removing members or changing services. Include active work, completed commitments, useful comments, essential attachments, and records with retention obligations. Assign an archive location and a person responsible for checking it. Limit access to the people who need the material.
Trello's export documentation describes JSON board exports and Premium CSV exports. Check which format is available for the workspace involved.
Open a sample export and confirm that it contains the information your team actually needs. Check attachments and externally linked files separately. A card pointing to a document in another cloud service does not demonstrate that the successor can open that document or that a copy has been preserved.
Treat exports as records to inspect, not a promise of complete restoration. Document anything missing and create a readable summary of urgent projects. Avoid copying client or volunteer data into a broadly shared family folder simply because the original administrator has died.
5. Review automations and integrations individually
List rules, scheduled actions, buttons, Power-Ups, and external connections that support critical work. For each, record its purpose, the associated account, and how the team will notice a failure. Prioritize workflows that send messages, change deadlines, or move customer requests.
Atlassian documents Premium and Enterprise administrators' ability to view and disable certain other users' automations. Check applicable limits before planning changes.
Do not treat workspace succession as proof that every automation or connected account has transferred. Test a harmless example under the successor's authorized access. Where a connection needs new authorization, involve the service owner and record the change. Keep a manual fallback for an essential process while the replacement is being verified.
For example, a volunteer coordinator might manually assign incoming requests until the team has checked the rule that normally routes them. That temporary workaround protects service continuity without relying on an untested automation.
6. Confirm billing and the continuation decision
Locate invoices, the renewal date, payment arrangements, and the person authorized to approve ongoing costs. Check workspace management guidance for billing controls, and identify whether separate Atlassian billing administration is involved.
Decide whether to keep the workspace running, migrate projects, or close it after preserving necessary records. Make that decision explicit rather than allowing the next payment failure to decide for the team. Review paid integrations separately from the Trello subscription.
Before changing a plan, verify the consequences for the features your team relies on. Keep confirmation of approved billing changes and cancellations. If the payer cannot access billing controls, ask Support about the appropriate assistance without assuming that resolving a charge also grants administrative access.
7. Prepare a fallback and rehearse the handover
If existing permissions cannot support continued operation, evaluate a replacement workspace with the authorized decision maker. Check current guidance before moving or copying boards; document any information or connections that would need rebuilding. Tell colleagues which location is authoritative so projects do not split into conflicting copies.
A useful handover note includes workspace and board identifiers, a primary and backup administrator, billing responsibility, archive locations, integration owners, open support cases, and closure instructions. Record the last review date and a date for the next check.
Rehearse a small set of real tasks while the original administrator is alive whenever possible. Ask the backup to locate a priority board, confirm permitted access to an attachment, identify the billing contact, and explain a manual fallback. Repeat the review after staff changes or a major subscription change.
Next steps
Start with one coordinator and a list of critical boards. Verify existing access, preserve necessary records, test automations, and obtain a clear decision about billing and continuation. Keep evidence of the completed handover. Preparing named successors in advance reduces the uncertainty colleagues and families face during an already difficult transition.