How to Cancel a Cell Phone Contract After Someone Dies

Don't disconnect the phone straight away. The number is often how password-reset codes reach the person's email, bank and cloud accounts, so use it to find accounts and save what you need first. Then contact the carrier with a death certificate and, if you are the executor, your court papers. Carriers typically let you disconnect the line or move the number to another account, and unpaid device balances follow the carrier's own policy.

What should you do before cancelling the phone?

A phone is often the key to the rest of a person's digital life. Before you end the line:

1. Keep the phone charged and the number active for a few weeks if the bill allows. Watch for text messages and codes. Many online accounts send a one-time code by text, and a disconnected number can't receive them.
2. Look for accounts that matter: email, banking apps, insurance and photo storage. Our guide to closing email accounts explains what to do with email once you have found what you need.
3. Save photos, messages and voicemails. Verizon says voicemails can be saved before a line is disconnected, so ask your carrier.
4. Check whether the person set up a legacy contact. Apple's Legacy Contact lets someone access certain data with an access key and a death certificate, but not passwords or iCloud Keychain. Our guide to the Apple Legacy Contact explains how it works.
5. Don't close an account you may need. Google says that if you close a deceased person's account, it can't process a later request to hand over the contents. It also says it can't provide passwords. See Google's Inactive Account Manager.

Our guide on password management after death covers what to do when you can't get in.

Who can cancel the account?

It depends on your role on the account. Verizon's page is a good example of how a major carrier splits it:

• The account owner can disconnect or transfer a line with no special process. This applies if you are the living owner and someone else on your account has died.
• An account manager or member can disconnect or transfer a line. Verizon says to bring documents such as a death certificate or executor paperwork, either to a company store or on the phone, and that authorized retailers can't handle this.
• An estate executor can disconnect the line or close the whole account by phone or at a company store, with the death certificate and executor paperwork.

If the person was the only account holder and you have no role on the account, expect the carrier to ask for proof of authority. A power of attorney doesn't help: legal references say it typically only lasts while the person is alive. An executor's authority comes from letters testamentary or, with no will, a court appointment as administrator. See our guide on what an executor does.

What do you need before you contact the carrier?

Verizon's page lists what to have ready, and other carriers ask for similar details:

• The account owner's name
• The mobile phone number
• The account PIN
• A copy of the death certificate, and executor paperwork if you are the executor

Verizon says it may ask you to upload the death certificate through a form, and that forms are usually reviewed in about 3 business days. It also sends an automatic email to the deceased owner's address, which you can ignore. Our guide to how many death certificates you need can help you plan your copies.

What happens to the phone and the payments?

If the phone was bought on an installment plan, the carrier's policy decides what happens to the balance. Under Verizon's published policy:

• If the device is paid off, you can keep it, with or without the line, or trade it in.
• If payments remain, you can disconnect the line and return the device, and Verizon says the remaining balance is forgiven once it receives it back. Or you can keep the device, and the remaining balance is due on your next bill.
• Devices bought from Verizon in the past 30 days are returnable.

Other carriers set their own rules, so ask in writing what happens to the balance before you decide.

Are you personally responsible?

Usually not. The FTC says a person's debts are paid from their estate, and that family members generally don't have to pay from their own money. The exceptions include co-signing an obligation, and being a surviving spouse in a community property state. If you share the plan, you remain responsible for your own lines. Our guide on debt when someone dies goes through the rules.

Can you keep the number or move it?

Many people keep a number for a while. You can usually do one of three things:

1. Disconnect the line, which is the most common choice.
2. Transfer the line to another account. Verizon allows a transfer to another Verizon account, and an executor can request one with executor paperwork. Verizon says to expect about 3 business days for the form to be reviewed.
3. Keep paying for a short time while you finish other tasks. The bill continues until you act.

Ask whether the carrier will move the number to a different carrier, and how long it holds a disconnected number.

What about family plans and shared accounts?

If the person was on your plan, the carrier treats it as a line removal. Verizon says a perk or add-on tied to a line is cancelled when the line is disconnected, and in some cases you may need to cancel a subscription with the perk's third-party provider. Check the bill for add-ons, insurance and app subscriptions. Our guides on canceling subscriptions after a death and streaming services list others.

What if the death is in the UK?

Ofcom's guidance for the UK is clear. Phone and broadband providers must have policies for treating you fairly if you contact them to close or change a deceased person's account. In summary:

• Many larger providers have a specialist bereavement team. Have the person's name, address, phone number and account number ready.
• A provider should close the account on request, and you shouldn't have to pay an early termination charge, though business accounts may be treated differently.
• The provider isn't required to backdate the closure or refund money already paid, though some do. It can recover outstanding charges through probate, but often waives them.
• A death certificate or its number may be needed. A photocopy or scan should do.
• A provider may ask for a handset to be returned, particularly a new or valuable one, for example with a prepaid envelope.
• Credit on a pay-as-you-go account belongs to the estate, and a refund can usually be paid to an executor account.
• Unused mobile numbers can be recycled. Ofcom says providers typically treat a number as inactive after three to twelve months.

If you are keeping a number, tell the provider. It may transfer the account into another name or close it and open a new one, which may involve credit checks and a minimum term.

What mistakes should you avoid?

• Handing the phone to someone while it's still linked to the person's accounts. Sign out, back up what you need, then reset it.
• Cancelling before you've found the accounts that use the number.
• Paying the bill from the person's bank account without authority. See our guide on accessing a bank account.
• Assuming the account ends by itself. The bill continues until the carrier is told.

What to do next

1. Charge the phone and check texts and email for accounts you didn't know about.
2. Back up photos and contacts, and save voicemails.
3. Find your carrier's page for deceased account holders, or ask its customer service team for the bereavement or estate department.
4. Disconnect or transfer the line, and ask for written confirmation and a final bill.
5. Move on to the next accounts. Our after-death checklist keeps the list in one place.