Estate planning as a Kohl's account holder

Kohl's Rewards is the free loyalty program at the department store retailer Kohl's. Members earn Kohl's rewards at 5% of Qualifying Purchases every day, or 7.5% when the purchase is made with a linked Kohl's Credit Card or Kohl's Rewards Visa. Those rewards accumulate as a Kohl's Rewards Balance, which converts into $5-increment Kohl's Cash coupons on or about the first day of the following month. Kohl's Cash can be spent in store, online, or in the Kohl's App, and expires 30 days after issuance. Both the Rewards Balance and Kohl's Cash are tied to a personal Kohl's Rewards Account and exist as a discount mechanism, not a stored-value or cash account: the Kohl's Rewards Account is nontransferable, and Kohl's Cash coupons are not legal tender and are nontransferable. The Kohl's Credit Card and the Kohl's Rewards Visa are separate credit products involving Capital One, N.A. and are handled with the card issuer, not through the loyalty program.

Kohl's rewards are forfeited at death under the program's terms. The terms explicitly state that rewards are not the account holder's property and cannot be inherited, transferred by will, or assigned through any estate planning mechanism.

What happens at death

Kohl's publishes no death, beneficiary, or estate provision for Kohl's Rewards, and the program's terms make the balance nontransferable, so Rewards and Kohl's Cash pass to no one at death by default. Section IV.a.iii of the Member Agreement states that the Kohl's Rewards Account is nontransferable, and Section V.c states that Kohl's Cash coupons are not legal tender and are nontransferable and may not be redeemed to reduce a Kohl's Credit Card, Kohl's Rewards Visa, or any third-party charge account balance. Under Section IX, members who close a Kohl's Rewards Account forfeit all accumulated Kohl's Rewards Balance (except where prohibited by law), and any unused Kohl's Cash expires after its redemption window. Kohl's also reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate, close, consolidate, or deactivate an account (including accounts it deems inactive after 12 consecutive months with no in-store merchandise purchase), in which case the accumulated Rewards Balance and unused Kohl's Cash may be deactivated or invalidated. Because there is no published estate channel, a survivor's only avenue is a discretionary request to Kohl's Rewards Customer Service, which Kohl's is under no obligation to grant. The one time-sensitive item is any unexpired Kohl's Cash, which expires 30 days after issuance.

Frequently asked questions