Estate planning as a Burger King account holder

Royal Perks is Burger King's free loyalty program, run by Burger King Company LLC (a Restaurant Brands International company). Members earn points called "Crowns" on eligible purchases at participating U.S. Burger King restaurants and redeem them for eligible menu items. Crowns are a loyalty currency rather than a stored-value balance: they carry no cash value, are personal and non-transferable, and expire roughly six months after they are earned. Because the program terms make the account and Crowns personal to the member and do not provide a way to pass them to an heir or estate, any unredeemed Crowns are effectively lost at death.

Under Burger King's terms, Crowns are not property of the account holder and are forfeited when the account closes at death. No estate planning document—will, trust, or otherwise—can override this forfeiture.

What happens at death

The Royal Perks Terms and Conditions state that "Your Account, Crowns, Rewards, and Program Benefits are personal to you and may not be sold, transferred, or assigned to, or shared with, family, friends or others (except as specifically permitted by the Sponsor, in its sole and absolute discretion)." The terms do not contain any provision for transferring an account, Crowns, or Rewards to an heir, beneficiary, or estate when a member dies, and Burger King does not offer a beneficiary designation for Royal Perks. Crowns also carry no cash value and may be redeemed only for eligible menu items. Separately, Crowns expire on the first day of the month following the sixth month from the date they were earned, and the Sponsor reserves the right to unregister any account that has been inactive for two consecutive years. Taken together, the practical outcome at death is forfeiture: unredeemed Crowns are lost, and there is no documented path to transfer them or the account to a survivor or the estate.