Estate planning as a Stripe account holder
Stripe reviews transfer requests for accounts individually upon receipt of documentation
Stripe Support
Stripe Support (no dedicated estate team; route general support requests)
Stripe is a payment infrastructure platform used by millions of businesses. A single Stripe account can hold payment processing, Stripe Billing subscriptions, Connect marketplace accounts, Atlas incorporated businesses, Treasury financial accounts, Issuing card programs, customer data, API keys, and an account balance with pending payouts.
After a Stripe account holder dies, Stripe may transfer accounts to a designated recipient, but this is handled case by case. The outcome depends on the documentation provided and is entirely at Stripe's discretion.
Stripe supports transferring accounts to another person during the account holder's lifetime.
What happens at death
Stripe does not have a publicly documented estate or bereavement process for US accounts. There is no dedicated deceased-account page, form, or support workflow. The Stripe Services Agreement (Section 11.10) prohibits account assignment without Stripe's prior consent, though consent "will not be unreasonably withheld or delayed." The Services Terms Brazil Regional Terms (Section 5.8) and the Issuing Accountholder Terms provide the only explicit death language: "If User no longer exists due to termination or death (as applicable), Stripe will only carry out any due payouts in favor of User's legal successor or any other legal beneficiary." The Services Terms (Section 3.2, Holding of Funds) state that if a User has a positive account balance that remains inactive for an extended period, Stripe may be required to deliver the funds to the appropriate Governmental Authority as abandoned property.
Planning your estate
Protecting Stripe accounts while the account is active
No beneficiary designation, lifetime transfer options for accounts, and 5-step plan.
View details →When someone dies
Handling Stripe accounts after a death
Transfer is handled on a case-by-case basis, 5-step process, and 4 required documents.
View details →Stripe does not offer a beneficiary designation feature. Without this option, accounts cannot be assigned to a named recipient through the program's own settings.
Frequently asked questions
Add a trusted person as a Super Administrator. They get nearly full access: all features, settings, API keys, financial data, and team management. They cannot change the account owner or delete the default bank account, but they can keep the business running. Without a Super Administrator, the estate must contact Stripe Support with no guaranteed timeline. Entity structure also matters: LLCs and corporations have legal continuity that sole proprietorships do not.
Yes. Customer lists, transaction history, and payout reports can be exported as CSV from the Dashboard. All Stripe objects are accessible via API while the account is active. Customer payment card numbers (PANs) can only be exported to another PCI DSS Level 1-compliant processor through a formal data migration process with a 10 business day SLA.
Sources
Data sourced from Stripe primary sources (14 pages reviewed). How we research.
Stripe Support
Stripe Support (no dedicated estate team; route general support requests)
