What happens to Adobe Stock royalties when someone dies
Adobe publishes its own process for a deceased person's account; a request goes in through Adobe's online form.
Adobe decides what happens to Adobe Stock royalties after a death case by case; its terms promise no transfer.
Adobe publishes its own process for a deceased person's account: Close account due to death, incapacitation, or incarceration; a request goes in through Adobe's online form. The request takes 6 documents.
How to request a transfer
- •The death certificate and letters testamentary, letters of administration, or a court order.
- •The Adobe ID (email address) on the contributor account, if known.
- •Earnings statements or payout records showing the unpaid royalty balance.
- •The name of the linked payout provider: PayPal, Payoneer, or Skrill.
- •The Adobe estate guide covers the closure form, which gets an email reply within 7 business days.
- •The same guide covers the Creative Cloud files on the same Adobe ID.
Required Documents
- Death certificate of the contributor
- Proof of legal authority to act for the estate: Letters testamentary, letters of administration, or a court order.
- The Adobe ID email address on the contributor account: If known
- Earnings statements or payout records evidencing the unpaid balance: If the contributor kept them
- The linked payout provider: PayPal, Payoneer, or Skrill.
- Estate tax documentation Adobe asks for before payment: The agreement requires IRS Form W-9 from a US Person and Form W-8 from a Foreign Person.
Timeline
Adobe's Privacy team responds by email within 7 business days to an account-closure request made through the privacy inquiry form.
What Adobe Inc.'s terms say at death
- 8.2
“We will provide payment as stated in section 5 (Payment) for any license fee that we receive as related to the Work after termination of these Product Specific Terms.”1
What Adobe Inc. says happens5
- Balances, payouts and refunds
Before payment, the agreement requires an IRS Form W-9 from a US Person or a Form W-8 from a Foreign Person; without a valid tax form on file, Adobe automatically withholds at the maximum rate of 30 percent.1, 2
Section 5.2 states that a Foreign Person's Form W-8 is what claims a reduced rate of, or exemption from, withholding under a treaty, and that Adobe deducts any tax a taxing authority collects at source.1
A payout needs a US $25 minimum royalty balance, 45 days since the first Adobe Stock sale and a valid PayPal, Payoneer or Skrill account; Payoneer is available to contributors outside the United States.2
A payout is requested from the Contributor Portal, and Adobe states funds are typically deposited into the payment account within 7 to 10 business days after the request.3
- Closing the account
A contributor can end the Contributor Agreement on at least 90 days' written notice to contributor-support@adobe.com.1
Adobe reserves the right to terminate the terms, remove any Work, or suspend an account without prior notice.1
Closing the underlying Adobe account ends the contributor dashboard the royalty balance is displayed in.4
- Continuing a shop, channel or listing
While the work stays on the Adobe Stock marketplace it can continue to be licensed and accrue royalties, and Adobe may let users license it until removal takes effect.1
- Passwords and login
Every account, payout and support action in the Contributor Portal runs behind the contributor's own sign-in, including the Contributor Relations contact form.5, 3
- Verifying the requester
The privacy inquiry form is keyed to the requestor's own email address, which it confirms with a validation code, and never asks for the account holder's sign-in.4
Not in Adobe Stock's published guidance6
- A contributor-specific deceased or estate procedure
- A death, estate, heir or successor clause in the Contributor Agreement
- A transfer of a contributor account or its portfolio
- A turnaround for a deceased contributor's balance or portfolio
- A path to refund a balance to the estate
- Court orders and legal process
Sources5
- 1.Adobe Stock Contributor Agreement (Product Specific Terms to Adobe General Terms of Use), effective June 18, 2024
- 2.Adobe Stock contributor payment requirements
- 3.Request payment for your content (Adobe Stock contributor)
- 4.Close account due to death, incapacitation, or incarceration
- 5.Contact the Contributor Relations team
A written request to Adobe can ask it to preserve the account while the estate is opened, refund an unspent balance and close the account.
Digital Assets Recovery Letter for Adobe Stock drafts that request from the estate's details.
Sources
Data sourced from Adobe Inc. primary sources (5 pages reviewed). How we research.
Adobe Stock estate claims
Adobe Privacy team (close account due to death, incapacitation, or incarceration)
Website
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