What to do when a PayPal account holder dies

Only the authorized executor or administrator of the estate. PayPal states it is "only able to take instructions from the authorized executor or administrator of the deceased estate," so a surviving spouse, adult child, or other relative cannot close the account or claim the balance without legal authority. You must supply either a copy of the will that identifies you as executor, or state-issued documentation such as Letters of Administration where there is no will. Because PayPal has no branches, the package goes by email to deceasedaccounts@paypal.com or by mail to PayPal Inc., Attn: ICA, P.O. Box 45950, Omaha, NE 68145 -- and PayPal warns that mailed documentation "will be destroyed once reviewed" and cannot be returned, so send copies and never an original death certificate or original Letters.

PayPal Savings is provided by Synchrony Bank, so two agreements are in play. Under the Synchrony deposit account agreement, on notification of death the bank may place a hold on the account and refuse deposits or withdrawals, retain the funds until it knows the identity of the successor, require proof of death, and close the account by transferring the entire balance to the deceased holder's PayPal Balance. From there it is claimed through PayPal's ordinary deceased account closure process. One timing trap: the same agreement says that until Synchrony receives notice and any required proof of death, it "may act as if you are alive and competent and continue to accept and process deposits" -- so direct deposits and transfers keep flowing in until someone actually gives notice. Deposits are FDIC-insured through Synchrony up to $250,000, which is also the agreement's maximum total balance limit.

No -- and that is worth knowing. PayPal's US User Agreement contains no clause at all addressing a deceased account holder, beneficiaries, an estate, or probate. The entire deceased-account process exists only as a Help Center article, which PayPal can revise at any time. The one contractual death clause that touches a PayPal product sits in the separate Synchrony Bank deposit account agreement for PayPal Savings. For an executor this means there is no contract term to point to when negotiating with PayPal; the practical leverage is simply supplying a complete package -- cover sheet naming the account by the deceased's primary email address, death certificate copy, your photo ID copy, your executor documentation, and a W-9 for the Estate.

No. Venmo is a PayPal company, but it runs a separate closure process with different rules, and the PayPal request will not reach it. Venmo requires at minimum a copy of the death certificate, and where funds or crypto remain, a government-issued photo ID for the requester, proof of address if a check is to be issued, legal authorization such as probate court orders or letters of administration, and an IRS Form W-9 for the Estate of the deceased. Critically, the submission method is the opposite of PayPal's: Venmo says "please do not send these documents directly via email to our Support team" and instead issues a secure document upload link once you connect with an agent. Venmo also states it cannot give access to, or transfer ownership of, an account to anyone other than the original holder -- the account is closed, not inherited. If the deceased held a Venmo Credit Card, that card must be closed with Synchrony, the issuer, before Venmo will close the Venmo account.