Facebook expert - trying to help friend close deceased person's account

[Rafflesway]

Really hoping there is a Facebook expert here who can help me advise my friend.

Her DF - very elderly gentleman - had a FB account but unfortunately he passed away 2 years ago.

MY friend is desperately trying to close her father's FB account as she is finding it very upsetting when things keep popping up on her own FB account regarding her DF. (I no longer have a FB account.)

Unfortunately my friend is not very tech savvy - neither am I but know a little more than she does. We have checked what you need to do to close an account but unfortunately friend doesn't know how to scan and attach death certificate, (although I could probably figure this out for her but her pc is very antiquated and she lives miles away so we can't use my much more modern equipment.). The biggest hurdle though appears to be that she needs her father's email address he used to open the account but she doesn't have a clue what this is as he never normally used email. Her mother is very frail and also has no idea.

Facebook is terrible for trying to contact if you are not savvy with it. It appears you can't contact them directly for help in any way. ☹️

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how my friend can finally close her father's account please? She is in her 60's and knows very little about computer terminology. Hope this all makes sense.

Facebook will need some form of scanned document. Death certificate is fastest to close the account. They will also accept birth certificate and obituary notice.
There is a relatively straightforward process once you have the information that you can access via Facebook.
She will need to figure out a way to upload this information. Can she post it to you, you scan and upload and then post back? Does she work, could she ask someone there? Or on a local facebook page, ask for help in scanning something and explain why.

m.facebook.com/help/150486848354038?helpref=hc_fnav&refid=69

Try reporting the account here

Thank you both so much for taking the time to respond.

The fact my friend has no idea of an email address for her late father is a real sticking point.

It makes me so cross that there is nowhere where you can just send them a simple email or phone them. We can sort out sending them the death certificate but they seem to think all their users are under 40 and are totally tech savvy. So pleased my DH and I closed our accounts years ago to save all this hassle. They seem to lack any compassion or offer any assistance to anyone who isn't fully versed in their technology.

She could just block him. That way if she changed her mind she could look at it again.

Now that sounds like a good idea for the time being, NotonLinkedin

I think I will try and help her complete the form on Facebook to request closure of the account but put "Not known" where it asks for her Father's email address. Hopefully I can figure out how to scan and attach the death certificate using her very old p.c. Will then have to keep fingers crossed but I suppose if they refuse to cancel the account due to lack of email address they will have to email her to let her know which hopefully gives us somewhere to respond to. 🤞

Thank you so much everyone! Your suggestions have REALLY been appreciated.

You can use a photo of the death certificate rather than a scan - can she take a photo with her phone. Then try putting 'Not known' where it asks for the account email address?

Thing is the email address is the key thing to the account isn't it? Eg there's loads of - say Tim Smiths - so FB would need know which Tim Smith was the one to close. Did he never email her?

Unfortunately no, he never emailed her.

Would have made things so much easier if he had at any time. 😢

I closed my sister's account. (Not really closed, it's now a memorial page)

I just emailed them with proof that I had Power of Attorney (which ceased when she died but I think any document would have done). I didn't have her email address or password. They also saw on my page I'd posted details of funeral arrangements and had tagged her so that her friends would know. They will accept a link to a death notice in the newspaper.

Go to Help and Support, type in memorialisation request and a query box will pop up looking for person's name, date of death and evidence. It only took a matter of hours.

Thank you Olly.