What happens to Paramount+ accounts when the owner dies
Paramount Skydance Corporation accounts are forfeited under the program's terms when the account is closed
Paramount+ Help Center (chat - click the blue chat bubble and type "Agent")
CBS Interactive Inc., Attn: Legal Department
680 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, and Paramount's refund article notes that where a refund is issued instead, "your access to Paramount+ will end immediately." A remaining Gift Card Credit stays on the account indefinitely until a new subscription is purchased or the account is deleted. Paramount states it responds to privacy-rights requests "within the time period required under the law" without naming a number of days. Paramount+ publishes no timeline for support-assisted closure and no data-retention window for cancelled accounts.
When a Paramount+ account holder dies, accounts are forfeited under Paramount Skydance Corporation's terms. The account balance has no transferable value, and there is no formal process for heirs to claim accounts.
Some families have reported receiving accommodations from Paramount Skydance Corporation customer service, though this is not part of the official policy.
What to do
When a Paramount+ account holder dies, these are the steps to take:
- •Section 8.3: "If your Account is deleted (including upon your request), you acknowledge that you will forfeit the remaining balance of any Gift Card Credit. For the avoidance of doubt, you can always cancel your Subscription without deleting your Account and in doing so, your Gift Card Credit will remain in your Account."
- •Section 4.1 confirms the credit "will remain on your Account indefinitely" after the subscription is terminated, and the Help Center article on gift cards states the card itself never expires.
- •The balance is only visible in the account while a subscription is active. Section 5.2 of the Gift Card Terms and the gift-card Help Center article both state that Paramount's customer support team can be asked for the remaining credit at any time.
- •Cancel the subscription to stop billing. Do not submit an account-deletion request until the credit question is settled.
- •Billed by Paramount+ directly: cancellation is a self-service action on the account page at paramountplus.com (Account, then Cancel subscription). Access continues to the end of the paid period.
- •Where the account cannot be reached, Paramount's own cancellation article says to "visit our Help Center homepage and click the blue chat bubble at the bottom of the screen to chat with an agent" at help.paramountplus.com. Paramount+ publishes no deceased-member phone line.
- •Billed through Apple: Settings, your name, Subscriptions, Paramount+, Cancel Subscription.
- •Billed through Google Play: g.co/play/subscriptions, Paramount+, Cancel subscription.
- •Billed through Amazon/Fire TV: amazon.com/appstoresubscriptions. Billed through Roku, Prime Video Channels, or Apple TV Channels: that platform's subscription management screen.
Required Documents
- No documentation policy is published by Paramount+ for deceased account holders
- Account email address, and the last 4 digits of the payment card on file, to identify the account to a Help Center agent
- For a Privacy Rights Center request: whatever Paramount asks to verify "that your authorized agent or representative has the authority to make a request on your behalf" (the policy does not enumerate the documents)
- Certified death certificate and letters testamentary or an equivalent appointment order, for any discretionary request about a Gift Card Credit balance (not required by any published Paramount page, but these are what evidence an executor's authority)
Timeline
Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, and Paramount's refund article notes that where a refund is issued instead, "your access to Paramount+ will end immediately." A remaining Gift Card Credit stays on the account indefinitely until a new subscription is purchased or the account is deleted. Paramount states it responds to privacy-rights requests "within the time period required under the law" without naming a number of days. Paramount+ publishes no timeline for support-assisted closure and no data-retention window for cancelled accounts.
Frequently asked questions
Paramount+ publishes no bereavement policy. The subscription has to be cancelled, which ends all content access. Content is licensed rather than owned, so there is nothing to inherit, and profiles, watchlists (My List), and viewing history cannot be moved to another Paramount+ account. Downloaded titles become unplayable once the subscription ends. The one thing that can carry value is a Gift Card Credit balance, which survives cancellation but is forfeited if the account is deleted.
Where the account can be reached, cancellation is self-service at paramountplus.com: Account, then Cancel subscription. Where it cannot, Paramount's own cancellation article says to visit the Help Center homepage and click the blue chat bubble to chat with an agent; have the account email address and the last 4 digits of the payment card on file. Paramount+ publishes no deceased-member phone line. If Paramount+ was billed through Apple, Google Play, Amazon or Fire TV, Roku, Prime Video Channels, Apple TV Channels, or a carrier or retailer bundle, you must also cancel through that platform -- Paramount+ cannot stop a charge it does not make.
This is the one part of a Paramount+ account with residual value, and it is easy to lose by accident. Under Section 4.1 of the Paramount+ Gift Card Terms, a remaining Gift Card Credit "will remain on your Account indefinitely" after the subscription is terminated. But Section 8.3 states: "If your Account is deleted (including upon your request), you acknowledge that you will forfeit the remaining balance of any Gift Card Credit." So cancel the subscription, and do not submit an account-deletion request until the balance is dealt with. An executor can ask Paramount to release the remaining credit to the estate as a discretionary courtesy -- Section 6.1 says the credit is not redeemable for cash "except as required by applicable law," and Section 8.2 records that Paramount may determine a refund is due "in its sole discretion."
While a subscription is active the balance appears on the account page under Subscription & Billing. Once the subscription ends it is no longer visible there. Section 5.2 of the Gift Card Terms and Paramount's gift-card Help Center article both state that Paramount's customer support team can be contacted at any time for the remaining Gift Card Credit on an account, through the Help Center chat.
No. Profiles, watchlists (My List), viewing history, and continue-watching progress are tied to the account and cannot be migrated to a different Paramount+ account -- unlike Netflix, Paramount+ has no profile transfer feature. Gift Card Credit is foreclosed even more explicitly: Section 6.2 of the Gift Card Terms states "Once redeemed, Gift Card Credit may not be withdrawn from the Account nor transferred or assigned to another person or Account." A family member who wants the content needs their own subscription.
It can be requested. Paramount+ offers no self-service data export in the account UI, but Paramount's Privacy Policy states that after the relationship ends it retains "certain records (including your email address and details about your transactions)," and its Privacy Rights Center publishes a dedicated authorized-agent request form alongside a rights-request line at (888) 841-3343. The policy notes Paramount "may also need additional information to verify that your authorized agent or representative has the authority to make a request on your behalf," so enclose the appointment order and death certificate. Paramount decides what it releases and says only that it responds "within the time period required under the law."
SHOWTIME is integrated into the Paramount+ Premium plan (formerly "Paramount+ with SHOWTIME"), so cancelling Paramount+ ends SHOWTIME access. A standalone SHOWTIME streaming subscription that pre-dated the integration is cancelled separately through its original billing channel. Family members who want SHOWTIME content need their own Paramount+ Premium subscription.
Not as of right. Section 5.8(a)(ii)(C) of the Terms of Use states "YOU WILL NOT BE REFUNDED FOR ANY FEES YOU HAVE PAID" on cancellation, adding "However, there are certain circumstances in which you may be legally entitled to a refund." Paramount's own refund Help Center article repeats this and notes that "When a refund is issued, your access to Paramount+ will end immediately." An executor can put a discretionary request through the Help Center chat or in writing to the CBS Interactive Legal Department, and Paramount decides.
Not straight away, and not at all until any Gift Card Credit is resolved. Paramount routes account deletion through its Privacy Rights Center, and Section 8.3 of the Gift Card Terms confirms that deletion forfeits the remaining credit while cancellation alone leaves it on the account. Paramount also publishes no data-retention window for a cancelled account, so records the estate may want are safest requested before deletion rather than after.
Under the official terms, accounts have no value after the account holder dies. The only way to preserve the value of Paramount+ accounts is to redeem, transfer, or share them while the account is active.
Sources
Data sourced from Paramount Skydance Corporation primary sources (12 pages reviewed). How we research.
Paramount+ Help Center (chat - click the blue chat bubble and type "Agent")
CBS Interactive Inc., Attn: Legal Department
680 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, and Paramount's refund article notes that where a refund is issued instead, "your access to Paramount+ will end immediately." A remaining Gift Card Credit stays on the account indefinitely until a new subscription is purchased or the account is deleted. Paramount states it responds to privacy-rights requests "within the time period required under the law" without naming a number of days. Paramount+ publishes no timeline for support-assisted closure and no data-retention window for cancelled accounts.
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