What happens to memories after the contributor dies?

Memories contributed to FamilySearch remain on FamilySearch after the contributor dies. When a FamilySearch user passes away, if FamilySearch knows about the death, the system locks the account. All memories contributed by that user remain in our database, though they may not be easily found.

After the contributor’s account is locked, the memories remain accessible in these ways:

• They can be seen in Family Tree if the contributor tagged them to people in Family Tree.
• They can be found through search engines and the Memories search feature if the contributor added titles, descriptions, topic tags, and other searchable text.
• They can be found if the contributor put them into an album and shared a link to the album.
• They can be accessed through a direct URL. 

The memories may be unfindable if they were not tagged or do not have text that can help them be found through search.

Memories tagged to people in Family Tree

Any contributor can tag a memory to a person in Family Tree. If the contributor's account is locked, other users can add new tags to the memory, detach tags from a memory, and attach it to someone else.

Private memories

If the original contributor designated some memories as private, they remain in the FamilySearch database but are not made public and cannot be found using Family Tree, search engines, the Memories search feature, direct URLs, albums, or topic tags.

Recommendations and best practices

Here are a few best practices that will ensure the memories you upload remain accessible to your family.

For each memory in your gallery, do the following:

• Tag each memory to at least one person in Family Tree.
• Add a descriptive title.
• Add event dates and places.
• Add topic tags.
• Add stories or transcriptions to photos, audio files, and documents.
• Put the memories into albums, and share the albums with your family. Family members can bookmark the albums to access the items.