Months after a death, the charges are often still going out. Streaming services, a gym, a cloud storage plan, a magazine, a subscription box nobody remembers ordering. Working out how to cancel subscriptions is not the most emotionally difficult task on the list, but it is one of the most quietly expensive to leave undone — and one of the easiest to get wrong by cancelling in the wrong order.
Here is how to find them all, including the ones no statement names clearly, which providers demand paperwork, what to keep running deliberately, and how to stop the rest quickly. If you want the wider picture of online accounts, our digital legacy plan covers everything beyond billing.
1. Cancel subscriptions by starting with the money, not memory
You cannot cancel subscriptions you do not know about, and nobody can list their own accurately, let alone somebody else’s. Pull twelve months of bank and credit-card statements and highlight every recurring charge. A full year matters because annual renewals appear only once — the domain name, the antivirus licence, the professional membership.
Do this for every card and account, including any that were rarely used. Families routinely find a second card carrying three or four forgotten services.
2. Check the places statements hide things
Some of the subscriptions you need to cancel never appear under a recognisable name. App-store subscriptions bill under the platform rather than the service, so a single line can conceal five separate plans. Check the subscription list inside the Apple or Google account on their phone directly.
Then search the email inbox for renewal receipts and “your subscription” confirmations. This is why the email account should be one of the last things you close, not the first. Also check for anything billed through PayPal, which acts as a wrapper around merchants that never show up as themselves.
3. Sort into three piles before you cancel anything
Do not simply cancel subscriptions in the order you found them. Sort first: cancel now, keep running deliberately, and needs a decision from the family.
Getting the order wrong when you cancel subscriptions causes real harm. Cancel the phone line early and you lose the two-factor codes needed to access the accounts you are trying to close. Cancel home insurance on an empty property and a burst pipe becomes uninsured. Cancel the email and you lose the trail entirely.
4. Keep these running for now
Do not cancel subscriptions in this group yet. Email, for at least several months. Home and contents insurance while the property is unoccupied — and notify the insurer that it is empty, because many policies restrict cover and require notification. Utilities enough to keep heating running through winter. The mobile number if codes still arrive there. Cloud storage until the photographs have been downloaded, because deletion there is usually irreversible.
5. What you need before you start calling
Before you cancel subscriptions with any contract attached, have several certified copies of the death certificate to hand, your own identification, and documentation of your authority if you are the executor. Small consumer services rarely ask. Anything with a contract, a balance, or a refund attached usually does — mobile contracts, fixed-term gym memberships, insurance, utility accounts.
Our guide on who to notify when someone dies covers the institutions that sit alongside these, and the federal overview of dealing with the death of a loved one lists the government notifications running in parallel.
6. Ask for a bereavement refund — explicitly
This is the step people skip when they cancel subscriptions, and it is worth real money. Annual subscriptions cancelled part-way through, insurance premiums, prepaid services and season tickets frequently offer a pro-rata refund on death even where the published terms do not provide for one.
Use the words: you are cancelling due to a death and are asking about their bereavement or compassionate policy. Many providers have one that is simply not advertised. The worst outcome is a no.
7. Log every call
Attempts to cancel subscriptions fail more often than you would expect, and a charge reappearing two months later is common. Record the service, the date, who you spoke to, and the cancellation reference. Then check the following statement to confirm the charge actually stopped.
a subscription and account tracker makes this a five-minute job rather than a fortnight of uncertainty, and it gives you something concrete to point at if you have to dispute a renewal.
8. Do the identity-theft step at the same time
There is a security reason to cancel subscriptions promptly: a dormant account attached to a deceased person’s details is a genuine fraud target. While you are cancelling, notify the three credit bureaus so a deceased flag is placed on the file, and redirect the post — an accumulating pile is both a security risk and where you find the last few accounts. The USPS process for mail for the deceased handles the redirect, and the FTC’s guidance on identity theft and online security explains why this matters more than it sounds.
9. Handle the sentimental ones last
Some accounts are not really about whether to cancel subscriptions at all. A photo library, a music collection built over fifteen years, a domain carrying a family name. Download what can be downloaded before anything closes, and give the family time to decide on the rest. Our guide to social media after death covers the memorialise-or-delete decision that sits alongside.
What to do now, if you are planning ahead
The reason it takes families weeks to cancel subscriptions is that no list exists. You can reduce it to an afternoon by writing one.
List every recurring service, what it costs, which card pays it, and — most usefully — a one-word instruction beside each: cancel, keep, or ask. That third column is what stops your family agonising over whether the storage plan holds something irreplaceable. Keep the logins somewhere secure and offline; a password and login logbook in a locked drawer is the approach many families prefer, and a guided workbook such as the I’m Dead, Now What? planner keeps the service list alongside the account and document details.
There is an immediate selfish benefit to listing what you would need to cancel. Almost everyone who lists their subscriptions finds two or three they had forgotten they were paying for, and cancels them that evening.
The short version
Work from twelve months of statements rather than memory, check app stores and email for the hidden ones, and sort into cancel, keep, and decide before you touch anything. Keep email, insurance, heating and the phone number running for now. Have certified death certificates ready, ask explicitly about bereavement refunds, log every reference number, and verify the next statement. Then leave your own list, so nobody has to reconstruct yours.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find all of someone’s subscriptions?
Work from the money rather than from memory. Go through twelve months of bank and credit-card statements and highlight every recurring charge — annual renewals only appear once, which is why a full year matters. Then check the email inbox for renewal receipts, and the app store accounts on their phone, which hold subscriptions that never appear under a recognisable merchant name.
Do I need a death certificate to cancel a subscription?
For small consumer services, usually not — a phone call or an online cancellation is enough. Anything with a contract, a balance, or a refund attached generally does want a certified copy: mobile phone contracts, gym memberships with fixed terms, insurance policies, and utility accounts. Have several certified copies to hand before you start.
Can I get a refund for the unused part?
Sometimes, and it is always worth asking. Annual subscriptions cancelled early, insurance premiums, and prepaid services frequently offer a pro-rata refund on death even where the standard terms do not allow one. Ask explicitly for a bereavement or compassionate cancellation — many providers have a policy they do not advertise.
Which accounts should not be cancelled straight away?
Keep the email account running for at least several months — it is how you discover remaining accounts, and it receives the confirmations for everything else you cancel. Keep home insurance and utilities active while a property is unoccupied, since cancelling cover on an empty house can invalidate a claim. And keep the phone number alive if two-factor codes still go to it.
If you’d like a ready-made place to gather everything above, the I’m Dead, Now What? planner keeps it together in one guided book.
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal, financial, tax, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and change over time; please consult a qualified professional about your specific situation.