What happens to PlayStation accounts when the owner dies

No. Section 10.2 of the Terms of Service licenses content on a "non-exclusive and revocable" basis for "personal, private, non-transferable, non-commercial, limited use," and Section 8.13 separately prohibits selling or transferring Virtual Items. Section 8.1 adds that "If you delete or close your Account, you may lose access to and use of any purchased Content." Terms like "purchase" in the PlayStation Store do not transfer ownership.

Yes, as long as the account stays open. Console Sharing and Offline Play on PS5 (Settings > Users and Accounts > Other > Console Sharing and Offline Play) lets other users on the same console play the account's downloaded games and media even offline, and use some PlayStation Plus benefits. The equivalent on PS4 is designating it the Primary PS4. It can be active on only one PS5 at a time. Do not close the account, and do not enable Console Sharing on a different console, if you want to keep this access.

Sony's terms point against recovery. Section 7.3 states wallet funds are "non-refundable and non-transferable except where the law requires," and now adds that "wallet funds that are deemed abandoned or unused by law will not be returned or restored." Section 12.3 confirms that on termination there is no refund for "any unused balance in your Wallet, except as required by law or as expressly provided in this Agreement." A personal representative can still put a written refund request to Sony with a death certificate and letters of appointment, but that abandoned-funds sentence means an unclaimed-property argument runs directly into a clause Sony wrote to answer it. The one carve-out in the terms is Section 12.4, under which a Child Account that Sony permits to remain open may use the remaining wallet funds. The most reliable step is to spend the balance before the account is closed.

They are at risk, and the sequence matters. Section 12.4 of the Terms of Service provides that terminating a Family Manager Account "will result in the termination of any associated Child Accounts," though "in some cases, we may permit your associated Child Accounts to remain open," in which case parental control settings stay in place and "the Child Accounts will be permitted to use the remaining funds in your Wallet." Sony's close-account page puts it plainly: "If you're a family manager, closing your account will also close all child accounts in your family." Raise the child accounts with PlayStation Support before requesting any closure.

There is no estates-specific channel, but Section 18 of the PlayStation Terms of Service does publish general contact details: phone 800-345-7669, and mail to Sony Interactive Entertainment, Attn: Consumer Services Department, 2207 Bridgepointe Pkwy, San Mateo, CA 94404, USA. Sony says the best way to reach it is through playstation.com/support, whose flows route to a PlayStation Assistant chat; the separate support contact guide lists no phone number at all. For a personal representative without the account credentials, a written letter to the Consumer Services Department is the practical route.