What happens to Instacart Shopper earnings when the owner dies
Maplebear Inc. (dba Instacart) has a formal process for transferring earnings after an account holder dies
Instacart Shopper Support
Instacart Shopper Support (no dedicated estate team published)
Instacart does not publish a timeline for deceased-shopper or estate requests; these are handled individually through Shopper Support. For ordinary earnings, direct deposit lands weekly between Wednesday and Friday for services provided the prior week (Monday-Sunday), and Instant Cashout releases batch earnings within minutes and full earnings including tip 2 hours after delivery. Instacart has not documented how it processes an owed-earnings claim from an estate, so expect the timeline to depend on the support team's review.
Instacart does not publish a dedicated deceased-shopper or estate-succession process for a shopper account. The Instacart Shopper Application Terms and Conditions state that the shopper may not rent, lease, sell, transfer, redistribute, or sublicense the Shopper App, and that the shopper has no right to assign or otherwise transfer the agreement, or any rights or obligations under it, to any third party without Instacart's prior written consent, given or withheld in its sole discretion. There is no documented beneficiary designation and no self-service account transfer. The practical estate asset is the unpaid or owed earnings — money Instacart owes the shopper for completed batches (batch pay, promotions, and tips) that has not yet been paid out by the weekly direct deposit or taken through Instant Cashout. Because earnings owed are money, the estate may seek to recover them by contacting Instacart Shopper Support with proof of death and proof of authority to act for the estate; Instacart reviews these individually rather than through a published procedure, so the policy is classified as case-by-case. The shopper account itself is not transferable to an heir without Instacart's written consent, so an estate generally recovers any owed balance rather than continuing the account.
How to request a transfer
Here is the process for transferring Instacart Shopper earnings after the account holder dies:
- •A certified copy of the death certificate
- •Documentation showing you are authorized to act for the estate (for example, Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration)
- •The email address and phone number on the Instacart Shopper account
- •Government-issued photo identification for the person making the request
Required Documents
- Certified copy of the death certificate
- Documentation showing you are authorized to act for the estate (for example, Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration)
- The email address and phone number on the Instacart Shopper account
- Government-issued photo identification for the person making the request
Timeline
Instacart does not publish a timeline for deceased-shopper or estate requests; these are handled individually through Shopper Support. For ordinary earnings, direct deposit lands weekly between Wednesday and Friday for services provided the prior week (Monday-Sunday), and Instant Cashout releases batch earnings within minutes and full earnings including tip 2 hours after delivery. Instacart has not documented how it processes an owed-earnings claim from an estate, so expect the timeline to depend on the support team's review.
Frequently asked questions
Instacart does not publish a deceased-shopper or estate-succession process, and its Shopper Application Terms make the account non-transferable without Instacart's prior written consent. The main estate asset is unpaid or owed earnings — money Instacart owes for completed batches (batch pay, promotions, and tips) that has not yet been paid out. The estate would contact Instacart Shopper Support with proof of death and proof of authority to act for the estate, and Instacart reviews the situation on a case-by-case basis.
Unpaid earnings are money Instacart owes the shopper for completed batches, so they are a debt the estate may seek to recover. Instacart does not document a specific procedure for this, so the estate contacts Instacart Shopper Support, provides proof of death and proof of authority over the estate, and follows Instacart's case-by-case review. Earnings are normally paid by weekly direct deposit (Wednesday to Friday for the prior week), so earnings for the most recent week may still be owed at the time of death.
No, not automatically. The Instacart Shopper Application Terms state the shopper may not transfer or sublicense the Shopper App and has no right to assign the agreement without Instacart's prior written consent, given or withheld at Instacart's sole discretion. There is no documented beneficiary designation and no self-service transfer, so an estate generally recovers any owed earnings rather than continuing to operate the account.
Earnings already paid out are no longer at Instacart — they went to the destination on file, which is the shopper's bank account, an enrolled debit card, or a Shopper Rewards account (powered by Branch). The estate should identify that destination to locate deposited funds, and contact Instacart Shopper Support only about earnings still owed for completed batches that have not yet been paid out.
No. The Instacart Shopper account is the earner side, where an independent contractor shops and delivers orders and accrues earnings. Instacart+ is a separate consumer subscription for placing orders. A deceased person could have one or both. Owed shopper earnings are handled through Instacart Shopper Support; a consumer Instacart+ subscription is handled separately through Instacart customer support.
After the transfer is complete, the recipient can use the earnings according to the program's standard terms. Document the deceased account holder's details to make this process easier for your executor or family.
Sources
Data sourced from Maplebear Inc. (dba Instacart) primary sources (6 pages reviewed). How we research.
Instacart Shopper Support
Instacart Shopper Support (no dedicated estate team published)
Instacart does not publish a timeline for deceased-shopper or estate requests; these are handled individually through Shopper Support. For ordinary earnings, direct deposit lands weekly between Wednesday and Friday for services provided the prior week (Monday-Sunday), and Instant Cashout releases batch earnings within minutes and full earnings including tip 2 hours after delivery. Instacart has not documented how it processes an owed-earnings claim from an estate, so expect the timeline to depend on the support team's review.
