Estate planning as a Chick-fil-A account holder

Chick-fil-A One is the free loyalty program inside the Chick-fil-A app. Members earn points on qualifying purchases, redeem points for food rewards, and earn member tier status (Chick-fil-A One, then Silver from 1,000 points, Red from 4,000, and Signature from 10,000). The Chick-fil-A One Terms state that participation is personal and non-transferable and that points, rewards, and member benefits have no cash value and do not constitute property of any participant. A member can gift a reward redeemed with points to a friend or family member through a shareable link, which is the only route by which the value of a points balance reaches another person. Separately, an account can hold loaded funds — prepaid money added to the app, held as a Chick-fil-A One Digital Gift Card under Chick-fil-A's Gift Card Terms. Unlike the points, that balance is money: it does not expire, can be moved to a physical gift card on request, and can be paid out by Chick-fil-A CARES as a digital gift card when the account is closed.

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

Chick-fil-A allows members to transfer points to other program members during their lifetime, typically for a fee. This is a practical way to share value without a formal estate transfer.

What happens at death

Chick-fil-A One points are forfeited at death. The Chick-fil-A One Terms & Conditions (Last Updated March 23, 2026) state that "Participation in the Program is personal and non-transferable" and that "Points, Membership Tiers, Rewards and Member Benefits may not be gifted, purchased, sold, bartered, brokered or otherwise transferred, except that the Program may allow a Member to donate or gift Points and/or Rewards, at the Member's discretion, in certain limited instances." The same section states that points, rewards, and member benefits "have no cash value, are not redeemable for cash, gift certificates or gift cards, are purely promotional, and do not constitute property of any participant." There is no beneficiary designation and no published way to inherit points or tier status. The gifting mechanism the program does offer is a lifetime feature the member exercises from their own account, and Chick-fil-A publishes nothing about honoring it after death. A dormant account is also on a clock: the Terms provide that "Unredeemed Points expire upon the cancellation or termination of your Chick-fil-A One account" and that Chick-fil-A "reserves the right to cancel a Member's Program registration and Chick-fil-A One account if the Member's account remains inactive for a period of two (2) years or more," with cancellation resulting in the cancellation of all points, rewards, member benefits, and tier progress. Chick-fil-A's support FAQ separately says "Chick-fil-A One points do not expire, but rewards do"; both statements are Chick-fil-A's own and are recorded here without choosing between them. One asset is genuinely recoverable. If the account holds loaded funds, that balance is a Chick-fil-A One Digital Gift Card issued by CFA Servco, Inc. under Chick-fil-A's Gift Card Terms, which state that the cards "do not expire" and carry no inactivity fee, that a digital gift card balance "may be transferred to a physical Gift Card upon request," and that a card may be transferred to another person as a gift. Chick-fil-A's support page states that a member deleting an account with unused funds "may contact CARES to receive a digital gift card for any outstanding funds that remain on the account," and that they "may also be eligible to receive a Be Our Guest card for certain rewards." The Gift Card Terms also carry an unclaimed-property clause: if the card goes unused, Servco "may be required to turn over the remaining Card balance to a state under such state's unclaimed or abandoned property law," after which the holder "may be required to contact the state's unclaimed property administrator." Chick-fil-A publishes no dedicated bereavement or estate-claims process for the program; reporting a death, closing the account, and recovering loaded funds run through general Chick-fil-A CARES customer service.

Frequently asked questions