What to do when a Claude account holder dies
Anthropic PBC accounts are forfeited under the program's terms when the account is closed
OverviewWhen someone dies
Anthropic Support
WebsiteVisit website→
HoursOnline help center and ticket form; no published phone or live-chat support for consumer accounts
Anthropic Support
Timeline
Conversations are removed from chat history immediately on deletion and purged from backend storage within 30 days. Inactive accounts (1+ year without paid plan) may be terminated by Anthropic with prior notice. The email address of a deleted account is blocked from creating a new Claude account for 30 days. There is no published SLA for support responses to estate requests.
WebsiteFile estate claim→
HoursOnline help center and ticket form; no published phone or live-chat support for consumer accounts
(General customer service)
Verified May 2026
Anthropic PBC's terms state that accounts are not the property of the account holder and are forfeited at death. The program does not provide a mechanism for transferring accounts to heirs.
Families have occasionally received goodwill accommodations from Anthropic PBC, but these are not part of the published terms and cannot be relied upon.
What to do
When a Claude account holder dies, these are the steps to take:
1
If the estate has login credentials: log in to claude.ai immediately to export data before the account becomes inaccessible.
2
Export conversation history at https://claude.ai/ > Settings > Privacy > Export data. The export is emailed to the account address; the download link expires 24 hours after delivery. Export is available on the Claude web app and Claude Desktop only, NOT iOS or Android.
3
Document all Claude Projects: copy project instructions, knowledge base contents, and any saved artifacts to external storage. Projects are tied to the account and cannot be transferred. Anthropic does not support data migration between accounts.
4
Cancel the subscription at https://claude.ai/settings/billing to stop billing. Pro and Max charges continue to the linked payment method until cancelled. See cancellation steps at support.claude.com/en/articles/8325617.
5
For Anthropic API credits: review balance at console.anthropic.com > Billing. Prepaid credits are governed by the Commercial Terms and there is no published estate recovery mechanism.
6
Delete the account by signing in, clicking the user initials in the lower-left corner, then Settings > Account > Delete Account. Some accounts require contacting Anthropic support for deletion (the dashboard will flag this).
7
After account deletion: backend data is purged within 30 days. The deleted email address is blocked from creating a new Claude account for 30 days; if the original account was terminated for a Usage Policy violation, the email is permanently blocked.
8
For Claude for Work (Team/Enterprise): contact the organization's Primary Owner. Organization data persists when individual members are removed. Enterprise plans have custom data retention controls.
9
Without login credentials: contact Anthropic support via https://support.anthropic.com/ (which redirects to support.claude.com). There is no formal estate access process, but support may respond to documented requests on a discretionary basis.
Required Documents
- No formal checklist published by Anthropic
- Login credentials are effectively required to export data, cancel billing, or delete the account
- For discretionary support requests: death certificate and letters testamentary or letters of administration are typically requested by major platforms even where no formal policy exists
Timeline
Conversations are removed from chat history immediately on deletion and purged from backend storage within 30 days. Inactive accounts (1+ year without paid plan) may be terminated by Anthropic with prior notice. The email address of a deleted account is blocked from creating a new Claude account for 30 days. There is no published SLA for support responses to estate requests.
Frequently asked questions
Anthropic has no bereavement policy. The Pro or Max subscription continues billing the linked payment method until cancelled. Conversations are removed from chat history immediately on deletion and purged from backend storage within 30 days. The Consumer Terms of Service give Anthropic discretion to delete any Materials or other data associated with the account on termination. There is no formal estate access process.
No. The Consumer Terms (last updated October 8, 2025) prohibit transfer or assignment without Anthropic's prior written consent. There is no account transfer, inheritance, or succession mechanism for consumer Pro or Max accounts. Gift subscriptions, where offered, create separate accounts rather than transferring an existing one.
Prepaid API credits sit on the Anthropic Console account at console.anthropic.com and are governed by Anthropic's Commercial Terms. There is no published estate recovery or refund mechanism for unused credits. The estate practically needs login credentials to access or use any remaining balance, and any production API integrations will stop running when keys are rotated or billing fails.
Deleted conversations are removed from chat history immediately and purged from backend storage within 30 days. If the user opted in to training data use, de-identified conversation data may be retained for up to 5 years in Anthropic's training pipelines. Inputs and outputs flagged by Usage Policy or trust and safety classifiers can be retained for up to 2 years (with classification scores kept up to 7 years). Account deletion is irreversible and forfeits all remaining subscription time.
Anthropic has no published bereavement refund policy. The Consumer Terms only require pro-rata refunds when Anthropic itself terminates a paid subscription. If the executor cancels, the account remains active until the end of the current billing period, then converts to free with no refund of the unused portion. Cancel through Settings > Billing as soon as the death is known to stop further charges.
Since Claude accounts are forfeited at death under the official terms, accounts can only be used during the account holder's lifetime. Redeeming, transferring, or sharing accounts while the account is active preserves their value.
Anthropic Support
WebsiteVisit website→
HoursOnline help center and ticket form; no published phone or live-chat support for consumer accounts
Anthropic Support
Timeline
Conversations are removed from chat history immediately on deletion and purged from backend storage within 30 days. Inactive accounts (1+ year without paid plan) may be terminated by Anthropic with prior notice. The email address of a deleted account is blocked from creating a new Claude account for 30 days. There is no published SLA for support responses to estate requests.
WebsiteFile estate claim→
HoursOnline help center and ticket form; no published phone or live-chat support for consumer accounts
(General customer service)
Verified May 2026