Estate planning as a AT&T account holder

AT&T is one of the largest U.S. wireless carriers. The estate-relevant asset is the wireless account itself: the phone number(s), the monthly service and autopay, and any device-installment balances financed through AT&T. AT&T publishes a "Manage due to death" process for a deceased account owner, under which a survivor transfers billing responsibility for a line to their own AT&T account, cancels the account, or ports the wireless numbers to another provider. The account cannot stay active under the deceased's name and Social Security number, except where the billing address was in Oklahoma. Any AT&T Reward Card (a Visa prepaid promotional card) is nontransferable and its funds expire with the card, so it does not pass to an estate. Keeping a phone number requires acting before the account is canceled.

When a AT&T account holder dies, their accounts can be transferred to family members at no charge.

During the account holder's lifetime, AT&T allows accounts to be transferred to another individual.

What happens at death

AT&T documents a "Manage due to death" process for a deceased account owner. The account cannot stay active under the deceased's name and Social Security number, except where the deceased's account billing address was in Oklahoma. AT&T states it does not charge early termination fees or other cancellation fees for the deceased person's line of service. To keep the wireless service and the number, a survivor uses a Transfer of Billing Responsibility (TOBR) to move the deceased's line onto another AT&T account; AT&T states any past-due balance must be paid before the line can be moved, and that an installment plan associated with the line stays active and transfers along with the line. The alternatives AT&T lists are canceling the account or transferring the wireless numbers to another provider. For a device on an installment plan that the family does not keep, AT&T states the device must be returned to AT&T, and when AT&T receives it, it can waive the remaining unbilled installment plan charges — this applies both where the deceased was the account owner and where the deceased was a wireless authorized user on someone else's account. To keep a device on an installment plan, AT&T states the installment plan must be paid off, after which the line can be canceled. Any outstanding account balance on the deceased's canceled account may be the responsibility of the estate. Separately, AT&T Reward Cards (Visa prepaid promotional cards) are nontransferable: the Cardholder Agreement states the cardholder "is not the owner of the Card or the underlying funds," the funds expire when the card expires, and any funds remaining after expiration "will not belong to you." The AT&T Consumer Service Agreement itself says nothing about the death of a customer; what it does say about a phone number is at 1.14.1, that a customer has no "intellectual or other property rights in any information that we provide or use to deliver AT&T Services, such as any Account or phone numbers or email addresses assigned to you," and at 1.16.1, that a customer "cannot assign the Agreement or any rights or legal claims arising from it without our prior written permission" — which is why the transfer of billing responsibility, an AT&T-run process, is the route rather than a private assignment between the estate and a survivor.

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