Last verified 2026-08-17; facts checked against the primary sources below

How to close and manage accounts after someone dies

Last verified: August 17, 2026

The short answer: First protect the person's mail, phone, email, home, insurance, and financial records. Then make one account list and separate each item by ownership: joint owner, named beneficiary, trust, or estate. Use every company's official deceased-customer process; do not sign in as the person who died. Preserve records and valuable data before requesting closure, because deleting an account can be permanent.

This directory gives families one current starting point for bank, brokerage, credit-card, payment, shopping, social-media, and digital accounts. Each linked guide uses the institution's own instructions and records its verification date.

What should you do before closing any account?

Order	Action	Why it comes first
1	Secure the home, devices, mail, and important papers	Stops avoidable loss while you determine who has authority
2	Make an inventory from statements, mail, tax records, and lawful account records	Reveals assets, debts, subscriptions, refunds, and benefits
3	Record how each account is owned	A joint account, beneficiary account, trust account, and solely owned account do not follow the same transfer path
4	Preserve estate records and irreplaceable data	Closure can erase statements, photos, messages, receipts, and access to other accounts
5	Contact the institution through its published death-notification route	The institution can explain its secure document and transfer process
6	Keep a contact log	Record the date, case number, documents sent, result, and next follow-up

Do not start by canceling every service. Property insurance, utilities, security, storage, phone service, and cloud storage may protect estate property or records. Use the subscription and automatic-payment checklist to decide what to preserve temporarily.

Which documents do institutions usually ask for?

Requirements vary by company, account type, ownership, beneficiary designation, state, and value. A useful working packet includes:

A certified death certificate or a clear copy when the institution accepts one.
Your government-issued identification.
The deceased person's full legal name and account number or identifying information.
The document showing your role, such as beneficiary paperwork, trust certification, Letters Testamentary, Letters of Administration, or an eligible small-estate affidavit.
Written transfer or closure instructions and the receiving account information, when requested.
An estate tax identification number and Form W-9 when funds move to an estate account.

Send only what the institution requests, through the secure channel it specifies. Do not email identity documents or a death certificate to an address you found in an advertisement or an unsolicited message.

Bank accounts after death

Start with the institution that holds the account. A surviving joint owner, payable-on-death beneficiary, successor trustee, and court-appointed estate representative may receive different instructions.

Once the court issues Letters and an estate needs its own operating account, see how to open an estate bank account in California.

Brokerage, retirement, and investment accounts after death

Do not sell or transfer investments before the registration and beneficiary path is clear. Retirement accounts can have tax-sensitive beneficiary choices, so ask the custodian for the inherited-account process before moving money.

Credit cards, payment apps, and recurring charges after death

Notifying a card issuer, canceling a merchant contract, stopping an automatic payment, and resolving a valid estate debt are separate actions. The CFPB says a family member is not generally required to pay a deceased person's debts from personal funds merely because of the family relationship, although joint accounts, co-signed debt, state law, and other facts can change the answer.

Preserve information the estate or family needs before requesting permanent deletion. Platform access, ownership of a device, ownership of purchased media, and authority over estate property are different questions.

Use the company's legacy or deceased-user process rather than a saved password. Apple, Google, and Facebook publish specific request routes and limit what a family member or legacy contact can receive or change.

Mail, benefits, insurance, vehicles, and taxes

Some of the most important accounts do not look like ordinary online accounts:

How do you find accounts you do not know about?

Review several months of mail, bank and card statements, tax returns, pay stubs, benefit statements, and lawful email records. Look for deposits, automatic debits, annual charges, dividend notices, tax forms, insurance premiums, password-manager records, and app-store receipts. Forward mail through the formal USPS executor process when you have the required authority.

Use the step-by-step guide to finding a deceased person's bank, investment, retirement, and insurance accounts for IRS transcript rules, retirement-plan searches, official state unclaimed-property programs, and the current replacement for Treasury Hunt.

For missing life insurance, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners provides a free policy locator. It sends the request to participating insurers; a company contacts you if it finds a policy and determines that you are entitled to information.

Keep an “unknown” section in the inventory instead of guessing. A recurring charge may be a debt, an asset-protection expense, a family subscription, or evidence of another account.

What should you never do with a deceased person's accounts?

Do not impersonate the deceased person or change account ownership through their login.
Do not distribute money before ownership, debts, taxes, and authority are clear.
Do not permanently delete photos, messages, tax records, statements, or business data before preserving what is needed.
Do not send identity or estate documents through an unverified email address or upload link.
Do not assume a will controls an account with a surviving joint owner, beneficiary designation, or trust registration.
Do not pay a caller from personal funds because they claim the deceased owed money; verify the claim through the estate process.

Frequently asked questions

Can a family member close an account without being the executor?

Sometimes a family member can report the death, but the institution may limit closure, disclosure, or transfer instructions to a joint owner, named beneficiary, trustee, court-appointed representative, or another legally authorized person. Ask for the document checklist for your actual role.

Should you notify every company immediately?

Secure obvious financial and identity risks promptly, but preserve essential services and records first. Insurance, utilities, security, storage, phone access, email, and cloud data may need a planned transition rather than immediate cancellation.

How many certified death certificates will you need?

There is no universal number. Make an institution list, ask which organizations require a certified copy and whether they return it, then order enough for the actual process. Many companies now accept a secure upload of a copy, while courts, title matters, and some institutions may require a certified document.

Can you use a small-estate affidavit instead of probate papers?

Sometimes. California provides simplified transfer procedures for qualifying property and estates, but the correct procedure depends on the property, value, ownership, date of death, and waiting period. Start with the California small-estate affidavit guide and confirm the institution's document requirements.

This is general administrative information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Account ownership, authority, privacy rights, tax treatment, and transfer rules depend on the actual documents and facts.