Who Owns the Shared Mailbox After an Employee Leaves?

A shared mailbox can lose its working owner even when the departing employee's personal account is removed on time. List every shared mailbox, queue, alias, routing rule, and delegated permission tied to the role before the departure date.

For each item, name the receiving owner and the business reason for continued access. Security or system administrators approve permission changes. The coordinator can maintain the inventory and collect confirmation, but should not grant access or read messages outside the approved scope.

Decide how open work will move. Use assigned conversations or a handoff queue when the tool supports them. Avoid forwarding an entire mailbox to a personal address or copying private employee material into a team folder.

Test the new owner's access and the removal of the departing account. Check automated routing and out-of-office text separately because they can continue after the visible permission changes.

Close the handoff with direct evidence for each mailbox and an unresolved-item list. If ownership is unclear, leave access unchanged only when the authorized security owner makes and records that decision.