Re: DNS transfer from dead people -- best practice?

[Jay A via NANOG <nanog () lists nanog org>]

On Thu, Sep 24, 2026 at 5:15 PM William Herrin via NANOG
<nanog () lists nanog org> wrote:
> with him. He did not effect the associated domain transfer at
> registrar Squarespace before that whole mess. What's the best practice
> for recapturing that domain name? Court? UDRP? Or is there something
> lighter weight?

I would think the first question should be whether the person is
listed as registrant,
Or the business/company name is listed as a company name on the
registered name holder;  with the person as a contact.
If the company name and address is listed, then be able to prove you own the
listed company name, address, and ideally phone number, etc.

In that  second case: the current domain registrar ought to have a
recovery procedure
for the registered nameholder business name to replace their
primary/admin contact..
If the registrar can't be reached, then possibly try and find a
different registrar
willing to use the written paper FOA  process to authorize a domain transfer to
the new registrar. The losing registrar should be Not able to refuse
the transfer;
providing the FOA's signer can be verified.

In the first case: the registrant is listed as the person;  I believe
the first stop
should be to search/find out what person is responsible for the
deceased's legal
affairs, and that person should be able to proof the authority to act
on their behalf
to perform a domain recovery or stipulate to an order.
The domain registrar should have that process where the person with
legal control over
their affairs can take the accounts in their name and transfer anything.

It's unclear whether a UDRP complaint could apply, since they are solely for
allegedly abusive or bad-faith registations. A UDRP can fail even if
the registrant
does not respond or does nothing. On the other hand, courts could consider
any kind of matter in their jurisdiction.

--
-JA
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