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Gmail, Email, and California Wills and Trusts

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My client’s father died after being killed at a convenience store where he worked.  He didn’t leave a Will but my client was his only child so the Los Angeles Court appointed him as administrator of his father’s estate.  My client had heard his father tell him repeatedly that he owned over a million dollars of property (despite his relatively small salary).  Since the administrator was still a student at a local university and had practically no means of self-support, he needed to find that property and ask the Court to permit the distribution of it all to him.  The only problem in administering the estate was that access to the information leading to the discovery of the million dollars of property was locked in his father’s Google gmail account.  Google refused to allow my client access despite having a Court Order and Letters of Administration granting him full authority over his father’s property.  Instead, Google wanted the Court to sign this Order:

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES

 

[PROPOSED] ORDER TO PRODUCE CONTENTS OF DECEDENT’S GMAIL ACCOUNT

Dept.:

Judge:

Having considered all of the evidence and relevant legal authorities, the Court finds as follows:

  1. Google Inc. (“Google”) provides a free email service, called Gmail.
  2. ____________ (“Decedent”) is deceased.
  3. ____________ (“Administrator or Administratrix”), is the lawful administrator or administratrix of Decedent’s estate under California law.
  4. Decedent is the sole account holder of the Gmail account ___________ (“Account”).
  5. In his/her lawful capacity established under Paragraph 3, Administrator or Administratrix has a legal right to obtain the content of communications stored in Decedent’s Account.
  6. Under the circumstances of this case, and in light of this Order, no law, legal duty, or obligation, including, but not limited to, any provision of California law or the federal Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2701, et seq., prohibits Google from disclosing to Administratrix the communications stored in Decedent’s Account.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:

  1. Within ten (10) business days of the entry of this Order, Administrator or Administratrix shall cause an email message to be sent to Google at postmortemrequests@google.com. That email message shall attach an electronic copy of this Order as entered by the Court and shall state as follows:

I, _________, obtained the attached court order directing Google Inc. to produce to me the content of any reasonably accessible Gmail communications stored in the Gmail account [Insert Decedent’s Gmail Address] and dated between [date] and [date].

  1. The Consent Email shall further state that the Administrator or Administratrix consents to Google delivering the content to [Recipient’s name and Address]
  2. Within ten (10) business days of receiving the email message described in Paragraph 7, Google shall disclose to Administrator or Administratrix the communications specified in Paragraph 7. Google shall disclose those communications by sending them to Administrator or Administratrix, in an electronic format of Google’s choosing, at the email address that Administrator or Administratrix uses to send the email message described in Paragraph 7.
  3. Google shall have no obligations to disclose any communications under this Order until the Order is entered by this Court and until Google receives the email message described in Paragraph 7.
  4. This Order resolves any request, legal process, motions, or court orders currently directed to or against Google in this matter. Any such requests, legal process, motions, or court orders are hereby DENIED, QUASHED, OR VACATED as moot.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

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