Estate planning as a Verizon account holder

Verizon provides wireless mobile service, and the estate-relevant asset is the wireless account itself: the phone number (and any other numbers/lines on the account), the autopay arrangement, and any stored rewards such as Verizon Up / myAccess benefits and Verizon Dollars (formerly Device Dollars). Tied to the account are device payment-plan and device-lease balances. Verizon handles a deceased Account Owner through an account transfer or closure process: a surviving account member or estate executor can transfer the account and keep the phone number on a new or different Verizon account, or disconnect and close the account. Rewards do not move with the account; the number can be kept on Verizon or ported to another carrier.

After a Verizon account holder dies, family members can receive the remaining accounts through a complimentary transfer process.

Verizon supports transferring accounts to another person during the account holder's lifetime.

What happens at death

The wireless account and the deceased's phone number can be transferred to a surviving family member or kept on a different Verizon account. A surviving account member or an estate executor handles this: to keep the number, the executor completes Verizon's "Executor transfer or disconnect service form" (or a surviving account member uses the account-member transfer path), provides documentation (death certificate and executor paperwork), and after Verizon's review the new Account Owner is emailed to complete the transfer. Alternatively, the executor can disconnect the line or close the entire account by calling 800-922-0204 or visiting a Verizon company store with proper documentation. Stored rewards do NOT transfer with the account: under the Verizon Dollars program terms, "Dollars and Program benefits are non-transferable and cannot be sold, gifted, or assigned to another account or party," and "if a customer terminates their Verizon service, all accumulated Verizon Dollars will be immediately forfeited." Verizon Up / myAccess benefits are likewise tied to the account and not separately inheritable. Outstanding device payment-plan or device-lease balances do not disappear at death: Verizon lets the survivor either return the device (Verizon sends a return kit and the remaining balance is forgiven) or keep the device (the remaining device payment balance is charged on the next bill). The phone number can be kept on Verizon through the transfer process or ported to another carrier.