alt Hacker NewsIt’s “illegal” in the sense that you could write whatever you want in your will but it wouldn’t be binding. You cannot force a party into a legal obligation they do not agree to.
The government can, though. I’m not sure if there’s any existing laws pertaining to transfer of or access to general accounts after death (as opposed to bank accounts which I’m pretty sure there are laws about).
My will says that my executor can access my accounts which alleviates Apple from legal risk if they do grant access but I’m pretty sure they are not obligated to do so.
This reminds me of some past political debates around same-sex marriage, where I encountered some folks claiming government-involvement wasn't really necessary because Free Contract could take care of everything. (This was some years back before the US Libertarian party imploded.)
It was rather frustrating to watch: "You're a huge fan of X but don't know how X works?"
For example, two people can't make a contract between them that gives one the right to visit the other in a hospital, nor the right to make medical-care/power-of-attorney decisions. You also can't contract-away the guardianship (or ownership) of children, etc.