Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

promptly^{1, 2}

within 30 days of the death^{1, 3}

within 30 days of the death^{2, 4}

within 2 business days of the request⁵

Amateur, Commercial Operator and Personal Radio Service licenses cannot be inherited, assigned or transferred; they are surrendered for cancellation on the licensee's death, with no filing deadline.¹

Business wireless and broadcast licenses pass through the estate, but only by an involuntary assignment application filed within 30 days of the death. A later transfer from the estate to the ultimate beneficiary is a separate application.^{1, 2}

An amateur license stays in the Universal Licensing System database until it expires at the end of its 10-year term or someone submits proof of death. A license canceled for death is canceled as of the date of death.^{6, 7}

A close relative is exempt from the two-year wait and can apply for the deceased's call sign once the license shows Expired or Cancelled. It must come from the group for the same or lower operator class the relative holds; the Alaska, Hawaii and insular-area mailing-address rule does not apply.^{8, 9}

A close relative is the deceased's spouse, child, grandchild, stepchild, parent, grandparent, stepparent, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew or in-law. The applicant states the relationship exactly as the FCC lists it, such as "child", "niece" or "in-law".¹⁰

An in-law is a parent, stepparent, sibling or step-sibling of the licensee's spouse; the spouse of the licensee's sibling, step-sibling, child or stepchild; or the spouse of the licensee's spouse's sibling or step-sibling.¹⁰

A radio club may request a deceased former member's call sign for its club station in memoriam, with no two-year wait, once the license shows Expired or Cancelled. The trustee must hold the operator class the call sign group requires.¹¹

The deceased must have been a club member, and the trustee must hold a written consent signed by the licensee before death or by at least one close relative, confirming the club association. The trustee keeps it in the station records and sends it only if asked.¹¹

For an in-memoriam request, the club's mailing address does not have to be in the call sign's Region, except Regions 11 to 13.⁹

Only one Lifeline benefit is allowed per household, so leaving a deceased subscriber enrolled keeps the federal subsidy flowing and blocks another household member from applying.¹²

Lifeline is still operating and provides up to a $9.25 monthly discount, or up to $34.25 per month for eligible subscribers on Tribal lands.¹²

The FCC does not learn of a licensee's death automatically. A family member or the executor sends the signed request to cancel a deceased amateur licensee's license.⁶

The executor or administrator files the involuntary assignment. The court document appointing them, letters testamentary or the enabling court order, takes the place of the decedent's signature and is attached as an exhibit.⁴

A deceased licensee's cancellation request is filed as a pleading attached to the license, not as a self-signed Form 605, because the licensee cannot sign. All Form 605 applications are filed electronically.¹³

The FCC takes no action on a request to cancel for death during the last 30 days of the post-expiration grace period, so timing matters when the license is near expiration.¹⁰

If the license is canceled more than two years after the death, or within 30 days before the second anniversary, the call sign is held 30 more days after the cancellation before going to the request-by-list pool.¹⁰

The FCC does not de-enroll Lifeline subscribers; the carrier does, and reports the de-enrollment to USAC. USAC runs the program day to day, including the National Verifier and annual recertification, while the FCC sets the rules.^{5, 12}

The FCC takes complaints about robocalls and unwanted calls to the deceased's number at fcc.gov/complaints. It uses complaint data for enforcement and does not resolve individual cases or stop calls to a specific number.¹⁴

A Lifeline provider that kept billing the federal subsidy after the death is reported to the FCC Enforcement Bureau with the carrier name, the deceased's account number, the dates of service after death and any proof the family told the carrier of the death.¹²

Every FCC licensee has a 10-digit FCC Registration Number (FRN) in the Commission Registration System (CORES), tied to an FCC Username account. Public FRN information can be searched without credentials.¹⁵

An executor without the decedent's login gets access through the FCC Licensing Hotline or a case with the Wireless Licensing Help Center, not by resetting the password.^{15, 16}

Help locating the deceased's Lifeline provider, account details and general Lifeline questions¹⁷

Reports of a Lifeline provider that kept billing the federal subsidy after a death¹²

Access to a decedent's FCC Registration Number account without the decedent's login¹⁵