Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania
How to get a court order to have Apple give me access to my deceased daughter's iPhone? I am the executor of her estate. What is the cost to acquire it?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Please accept my condolences on the loss of your daughter.
There's typically no fee involved, or maybe only a small $15 filing fee. You have to file a Motion for Court Order (making the title of those papers is not critical; what you say is important, not how the papers are titled), and along with that you will send in a notarized Affidavit in Support of Motion for Court Order nicely worded with numbered paragraphs saying the decedent's name and date of death and all the facts and that you were appointed as executor on such and such date, and ask the court to issue and Order authorizing Apple, Inc. to take such steps as necessary to turn over the decedent's passwords to the lawfully appointed executor. You may need to submit a Proposed Order for the judge to sign, but sometimes the judge's clerk will type that up. First, I would go to the court and ask the clerk for advice and confirm what I have written, as I am not a PA lawyer.
Once again, please accept my condolences on the loss of your daughter.