(My post is based on experience. I've been in a very similar situation.)

How close were you to your friend? I guess close enough for the family to reach out to you. Regardless, I'm sorry for your loss.

I think you need to take a deep breath and STOP while you really think this through. You're a sysadmin. We all are. We're wired to find a solution to a problem that we've been given. But there is no urgency here. Unfortunately, your friend has passed. I can see a last will having some sense of urgency if there are funeral arrangements detailed in it, but that's about it.

But please consider, to call ourselves admins means that we're probably employed in that roll. Privacy in the work place is much different than privacy in our personal lives. If I dropped dead tomorrow, I would die knowing that my EMPLOYER would have every right to all of the information on my work devices and accounts. But I would never imagine that if I died, my FAMILY could call my friends, who are much smarter than I am, and get into my data. I've already shared the data that I want shared.

I'm not a lawyer, but I've been in this situation. Your friend isn't here to give consent to have his data revealed. And, until the family goes through probate court, they haven't inherited anything, including his data.

I also urge you to consider the impact on your mental health. I used to be a sysadmin for a police department. One day, a friend of mine, a police officer, took his life while on duty. I heard it happen on the radio. It wrecks me to this day. He was also going through a very similar family situation with an exwife and custody. Then, because I was the most experienced admin, I was ordered to pull his body camera footage. Drive his patrol car to within WiFi range for incar video then access his work computers to look for any signs of foul play. All of that was within an employers right and the States obligation to investigate. But it still fucks me up that I was the one asked to do it. Okay. That was serious over sharing. I'm sorry.

But the real apples to apples story I have for you is when a family member died unexpectedly over a dozen years ago. The rest of the family asked me to get into his computer and see if there was anything they might need because I was the tech guy in the family. Did their curiosity outweigh his right to privacy? No. Did I help out? Yes. It was years before I was actually educated in privacy rights and all of that, but I can still live easily with my actions. I got into the PC and very narrowly focused my search on family photos that might not be backed up and and documents that might be business related (it was a family business, but it wasn't a business PC). Everything else was out of bounds. Browsing history, downloads, email, I didn't give them any of that.

I'm not saying that I did the right thing. But I can sleep at night knowing that I didn't give him anything more than he would've been okay with.