What happens to Teachable earnings when the owner dies
Teachable, Inc. (part of Hotmart Company) has a formal process for transferring earnings after an account holder dies
Teachable Support
Teachable Support (no dedicated estate channel; creator support and account recovery email)
Teachable publishes no timeline for a deceased owner's school or earnings. For context on ordinary timing: on Teachable Payments, payouts are daily (about 2 business days after each sale), weekly (every Thursday), or monthly (first business day of the month), and payouts are placed on hold if a school's earnings exceed $500 and required tax forms have not been submitted. On the legacy Monthly Payment Gateway, funds are paid on the first of the month no earlier than 30 days after the end of the month of the sale (Terms section 10.1). A cancelled plan ends at the end of the billing cycle, pending payouts continue to be processed, and active student subscriptions may continue for up to 30 days after the plan ends. An account without an active subscription may be deleted after at least six months of inactivity.
Teachable's Terms of Use (last updated 04/20/2026) contain no death, estate, or heir provision, and its Help Center publishes no deceased-owner process. The closest clause is section 2.6, Account Ownership Disputes: Teachable may request documentation and "reserves the right to determine the account ownership in its sole judgment, and the ability to transfer the account to the rightful owner, unless otherwise prohibited by law." Section 17 adds that a user "may not assign Your rights under these Terms without Teachable's prior written consent." Only the Primary Owner can set up payment gateways, delete the school, transfer primary ownership, or change billing, and Teachable's Delete Your School article says that "If the Primary Owner is unavailable, you can initiate an Account Recovery Process to transfer ownership." What happens without action is the estate-loss risk. A paid plan renews automatically until cancelled (section 12.1). If a plan payment fails or the plan is cancelled, the school is automatically taken offline and students immediately lose access to all content; content and settings remain intact while offline, but Teachable "cannot guarantee content accessibility indefinitely." An account without an active subscription "may be deleted if it remains inactive (e.g., the user fails to log in) for a continuous period of at least six (6) months" (section 15.2), and after deletion content "may be irretrievable" (section 15.3). Earnings are money owed rather than a forfeitable balance: on Teachable's own gateways, Teachable acts as the creator's payment collection agent and "is responsible for remitting the funds to the Creator" (section 10.1). Because no estate channel exists, the school, its content, and any unpaid earnings are handled case by case through Teachable Support.
How to request a transfer
To request a transfer of Teachable earnings after an account holder's death, follow these steps:
- •A death certificate
- •Court documentation of authority over the estate (for example, Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration)
- •The school name or URL and the Primary Owner account email
- •Any business documents for the entity that owns the school, since Teachable's ownership-dispute clause lists business documents, billing information, and tax forms among what it may request
Required Documents
- Death certificate
- Court documentation of authority over the estate (for example, Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration)
- School name or URL and the Primary Owner account email
- Business documents for any entity that owns the school, and billing details, if Teachable requests them under its account-ownership clause
Timeline
Teachable publishes no timeline for a deceased owner's school or earnings. For context on ordinary timing: on Teachable Payments, payouts are daily (about 2 business days after each sale), weekly (every Thursday), or monthly (first business day of the month), and payouts are placed on hold if a school's earnings exceed $500 and required tax forms have not been submitted. On the legacy Monthly Payment Gateway, funds are paid on the first of the month no earlier than 30 days after the end of the month of the sale (Terms section 10.1). A cancelled plan ends at the end of the billing cycle, pending payouts continue to be processed, and active student subscriptions may continue for up to 30 days after the plan ends. An account without an active subscription may be deleted after at least six months of inactivity.
Frequently asked questions
Teachable's Terms of Use contain no death or estate provision, and Teachable publishes no deceased-owner process. The school keeps running only while its paid plan is current: a plan renews automatically, and if a payment fails or the plan is cancelled, the school goes offline and students immediately lose access to their purchases. An account without an active subscription may be deleted after at least six months of inactivity. An executor contacts Teachable Support to ask that the school and its records be kept and that ownership be resolved.
Teachable has a Transfer Primary Ownership feature, but only the current Primary Owner can use it, and it is confirmed through an email to the Primary Owner's inbox. For an estate, the relevant clause is section 2.6 of the Terms of Use: Teachable may request documentation and "reserves the right to determine the account ownership in its sole judgment, and the ability to transfer the account to the rightful owner." Teachable's Delete Your School article also refers to an Account Recovery Process when the Primary Owner is unavailable. Any transfer is at Teachable's judgment.
It depends on the school's payment gateway. On Teachable Payments, the legacy teachable:pay, or the legacy Monthly Payment Gateway, Teachable collects student payments as the creator's payment collection agent and pays out earnings, so the estate asks Teachable how any balance not yet paid out will be released. On a Custom Payment Gateway, payments go to the creator's own Stripe Standard or PayPal account, which Teachable does not hold; the estate contacts that provider. Earnings already paid out are in the linked bank account.
When a Teachable plan payment fails or a plan is cancelled, the school is automatically taken offline and students cannot access any purchases. Active student subscriptions are not stopped immediately by a plan cancellation and may continue for up to 30 days after the plan ends, so students may still be charged. Content and settings remain intact while offline, but Teachable says it cannot guarantee content accessibility indefinitely.
Email Teachable Support at support@teachable.com, the address Teachable lists for creator support and account recovery. Support Specialists work Monday to Friday, 10am to 8pm EST, and Teachable states phone support is not available. The in-admin Messenger requires logging into the school, which should not be done with the deceased owner's credentials. Include a death certificate, estate authority documents, and the school name or URL.
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 Teachable, Inc. (part of Hotmart Company) primary sources (15 pages reviewed). How we research.
Teachable Support
Teachable Support (no dedicated estate channel; creator support and account recovery email)
Teachable publishes no timeline for a deceased owner's school or earnings. For context on ordinary timing: on Teachable Payments, payouts are daily (about 2 business days after each sale), weekly (every Thursday), or monthly (first business day of the month), and payouts are placed on hold if a school's earnings exceed $500 and required tax forms have not been submitted. On the legacy Monthly Payment Gateway, funds are paid on the first of the month no earlier than 30 days after the end of the month of the sale (Terms section 10.1). A cancelled plan ends at the end of the billing cycle, pending payouts continue to be processed, and active student subscriptions may continue for up to 30 days after the plan ends. An account without an active subscription may be deleted after at least six months of inactivity.
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