Estate planning as a ChatGPT account holder

ChatGPT is the most widely used AI assistant. An OpenAI account holds conversation history, memory, uploaded files in Library, custom GPTs and projects, and any prepaid Service Credits. As of September 2026 the individual plan ladder on chatgpt.com/pricing is Free, Go, Plus, and Pro, with Business and Enterprise sold as multi-seat workspace products; Pro is offered at two levels, $100 and $200 per month, and OpenAI paused new sign-ups and upgrades to the $200 tier on September 10, 2026. OpenAI publishes no bereavement policy, no account transfer mechanism, and no legacy contact feature on any tier. The estate concerns are concrete: a plan billed directly by ChatGPT keeps auto-renewing until someone cancels it, a plan bought through the App Store or Google Play is not cancelled by deleting the account, conversation data is permanently deleted within 30 days of account deletion, Service Credits expire one year from purchase and confer no property right, and new custom GPTs can no longer be created on a personal account at all.

When a ChatGPT account holder dies, their accounts are forfeited. The program's terms state that accounts do not constitute property of the account holder and cannot be transferred upon death, by operation of law, or through estate planning documents.

What happens at death

OpenAI publishes no bereavement or deceased-user policy. Its Terms of Use (Effective January 1, 2026) contain no provision addressing death, succession, inheritance, or estate access; what they do say, under General Terms, is "You may not assign or transfer any rights or obligations under these Terms and any attempt to do so will be void." The Terms also prohibit "Sharing your account credentials or making your account available to anyone else," so an account is not a thing a survivor is meant to step into. ChatGPT subscriptions cannot be transferred: OpenAI states "We do not support transferring your ChatGPT subscription from one account to another," and directs a member to cancel on the current account and resubscribe from the desired one. A paid plan auto-renews each billing period until cancelled, so an unattended account keeps charging the decedent's payment method. Deletion is only a partial fix -- OpenAI states that deleting the account cancels subscriptions billed directly by ChatGPT, but that "Deleting your ChatGPT account does not cancel an Apple App Store subscription," and directs the holder to cancel any Apple or Google Play subscription first. Custom GPTs do not transfer either: OpenAI states a member can continue using GPTs they previously created, that editing depends on the plan and permissions, and that "New GPT creation is unavailable on personal ChatGPT accounts, regardless of subscription." Service Credits are non-transferable, are "not refundable except where required by law," expire one year after purchase or issuance, and by the Service Credit Terms' own words "do not constitute or confer upon you any personal property right." Deleting the account removes chats from the account immediately and schedules them for permanent deletion within 30 days, and OpenAI states a deleted account cannot be reactivated. There is no estate intake and no fiduciary access path. What OpenAI does publish are two channels written for other purposes that a representative can reach: the Privacy Portal (privacy.openai.com), documented as the route to request a data export or an account deletion "if you cannot sign in to ChatGPT" -- though it verifies the email or phone already linked to the account -- and the authorized-agent route in the US Privacy Policy, where "the agent must present authority to act on your behalf, such as signed written permission," submitted to dsar@openai.com. OpenAI's personal-data-removal article states that requests "may also be made by a legally authorised representative acting on someone else's behalf," adding "we may ask for documentation confirming that authority." Neither channel says anything about a deceased account holder, so anything either does for an estate is discretionary.