What happens to my Account when I die?

1. 93

   Glenis Rixposted 5 years ago

   I saw a solicitor today to write a new Will, which focussed my mind on what will happen to ongoing earnings after my death. Can my Executors have my hubpages account transferred to my beneficiaries? If so, what is the procedure.

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      lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Anyone who has your login details can take over your account. I'd also provide instructions on how to create a new Adsense account (in the beneficiaries name) and set it up here on HP. The same with Amazon if needed.

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   2. 97

      DrMark1961posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      This is not a complicated issue. Your executor will not need to write articles and apply for an adsense account as long as you are in the HP earnings program.
      As long as they have your password to open your account, they can go to the profile page, then the earnings settings. At the bottom of the page is an area to change to the paypal account. If they have a paypal account with a different address, all they have to do it change that information. The HP earnings will go to that paypal account instead of yours, and then they can be transferred to their own bank.
      In doing this the person will lose out on your adsense earnings. Since it is usually only a few dollars a month, that is not a big deal.

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      1. 85

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

         https://www.kiplinger.com/article/retir … death.html  This article makes it appear more complicated than you say.  I think we all should read it.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

         When you're dead, you're no longer in any program, and hiding the fact that someone died and then taking over their account and income is against the law.

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   3. 85

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/160202?hl=en  Just found this, and I think it provides a way out.  This info tells how Google permits you to change the name of a payee in certain circumstances, including death.  What think you?

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2. 95

   Beth Eaglescliffeposted 5 years ago

   This is something we all need to think about. It's a good idea to discuss with your nearest and dearest how they should deal with your online accounts when you die.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I spoke with Marisa Wright about this some time ago.  The bottom line is that someone can take over your account but they must qualify and get an Adsense account first.  So it's a good idea for them to open their own HP account now and start posting under their own name.  Then, when you pass, they can transfer your hubs to your account.  In the U.S. when you die your death must be reported to Social Security, which then notifies all of your financial institutions.  Since checks and automatic deposits from Paypal would go to one of those accounts, they'd be refused because the account would have been closed and the checks returned to the senders.  This means that whoever you want to have your work when you die must be able and willing to maintain the account.  One would think that, for instance, if you and your spouse have a joint checking account it wouldn't matter, but your name gets removed and Adsense will only let one person have an account.  They make it pretty difficult to do this, which is a shame because it's hard to think about years of work going down the drain and income being tossed away just because you died.  The real culprit here is Adsense, not HP.  Would be nice if they would at least let spouses have a joint account, but I doubt they ever will.  Too many legalities might be involved.

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      1. 93

         Glenis Rixposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the information. It seems so complicated and none of my family would have the time or willingness to start to write articles. I wanted my son to have the income and save it for my young grandchildren. He doesn’t need the money but, as you say, it’s a pity that the work is tossed away and potential income goes down the drain.

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            Eurofileposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            This question has crossed my mind too. Not that the income I derive at the moment from Hub Pages will go very far. But hopefully it might in the future. I hope that you will be around for a long time to come to share your writing with us all on Hub Pages.

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            1. 93

               Glenis Rixposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks ,Liz.

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         2. 88

            lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            I don't see why they have to start writing articles. Google Adsense does not see your name here. So many people here have got an Adsense account through HP without having a user name that reflects their name. All your son would need to do is create an account and that's it. The balance accumulated would not transfer, but your HP income would stay on this account. Marisa's account is still active. The work is not transferred. If it is transferred it would lose all of its rankings and would mean nothing anyway.

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            1. 92

               Sherry Hewinsposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               Under earnings, if you click the Adsense configure button it offers the option of associating your HP account with a different Adsense account. So, if the heir has their own Adsense account, it should be pretty simple.
               
               I'm wondering if there would be a way for the heir to get a new Adsense account based on the content already on the HP account they are taking over. Maybe just disassociate the old Adsense account and then apply to Adsense just as if it was a new account.

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            2. 93

               Titiaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               Brandon, I don't fully understand what you wrote. Do you mean that if I die, one of my family needs to create an account on HP? He/she should have a Paypal account too I guess and my own paypal address should be changed to theirs? And then they get paid? But is it not necessary to update the articles once in a while?  Not that it matters very much, none in my family is interested in writing.
               
               I wish HP staff would make an exact step by step explanation on how to deal with this kind of stuff. I can imagine that when one earns big time here it would be a shame indeed it that money was thrown down the drain.

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                  lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  Updating helps, but most articles that were doing well continue to do well at least for a few years with no updates. Also, HP seems to be stepping in and updating the good articles every now and then.
                  
                  What I meant was this, but there are more posts now, so read through them too, esp. the Adsense transfer.
                  
                  I meant:
                  1. Give the beneficiary your login details
                  2. They have to change the paypal address to their new address
                  3. Disassociate the Adsense ID and apply for a new Adsense ID through HP. You already have 10 articles, so it will be approved.
                  4. Collect earnings through Paypal and also Adsense.
                  
                  But if you can transfer the Adsense account, it makes things a lot easier.

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                  1. 85

                     TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

                     Adsense clearly states that it will not transfer accounts and that the account is terminated upon death.  I've written Marisa to ask her to talk to the fellow who bought her account for guidance.  I'm hoping he can help.  Stay tuned.

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            3. 85

               TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

               You can't qualify for an Adsense account until you have posted at least 10 credible articles.  Your account is linked to Paypal, so you'd need your own paypal account, also.  Once your name is removed from your bank accounts, there would be no way for Paypal or Adsense to send money to you.  I believe, from what Marisa said, that as long as your heir has his own Adsense and Paypal accounts, if you die and he shows proof that he is legally allowed to overtake your account, then HP can put it in your name.  However, to access the money that is already there, it sounds like you'd need a will to state that the owner of the account wanted you to have his or her account.  Marisa sold her account but the buyer kept her name on it.  So the account continues under her name but he gets the income from it.  Not sure about the details of this, though, so maybe someone on the team can clarify this.  All I know is that having an Adsense and Paypal account in your own name and with your own email address is the key to doing this.

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3. 95

   Peggy Wposted 5 years ago

   Hopefully, someone who operates HubPages will answer this question.  It would be a shame not to be able to pass this ongoing stream of income and all of this work to someone.

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4. 92

   Kenna McHughposted 5 years ago

   Perhaps, I leave the stream of money to a non-profit group or create a trust.

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   1. 85

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Not sure you can do this because of the Adsense rules.  They don't allow accounts for more than one person per account.

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5. 83

   samanthacubbisonposted 5 years ago

   https://hubpages.com/faq/#deceasedusers
   
   So no, you don't necessarily need an "heir," just someone who knows your information. Then you can set up your own PayPal/HubPages plan on the account. They won't need to change anything else, aside from contact information, I'd imagine.
   
   They also don't need to "start" writing articles, because technically, you already did when you opened your account. So they just have to "continue" writing. (If they want to, of course.)
   
   After Adsense stuff is settled, it wouldn't be more than one person per account, unless you came back as a ghost.

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   1. 92

      Sherry Hewinsposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I guess the question is, how does the Adsense stuff get settled? The other person would either have to already have one they could link to, or apply for one. As far as I know, you can't take over a dead person's Adsense account. Or can you?

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Exactly...and the only way to get such an account is to have an account with them in your name.  They won't transfer an existing account.  To have this type of account you have to jump through their hoops.  Remember that to earn, you need Adsense...and payments won't be accepted by a bank unless they are sent to the person who is alive and owns the bank account.  As I said earlier, it is not HP that is the problem, it is Adsense.  However, there is something about this in the article I posted because it appears Adsense may have come up with a way to assist with this issue. Read and learn.  Can't remember what it said just now, but do advise you to read that particular portion of the article.

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      2. 85

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

         "Google in April introduced a new feature allowing users to specify that after a certain period of inactivity their account data should be deleted or passed along to specific individuals."

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   2. 85

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Not exactly because Yahoo Mail and probably other email providers close your account upon death.  Thus, having access to a dead person's email account would not be possible.

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6. 93

   Glenis Rixposted 5 years ago

   Sondra, it seems to be the solution. Thanks for posting the link. I jjust need to remember to leave a note of the account login etc for the kids whilst I am still compos mentis!
   
   Having  changed the Adsense payee the beneficiary would presumably only need to open a Paypal account and associate his/her email address and PayPal details with the Hubpages account.
   
   But if the beneficiary had not inherited a love of writing along with the family silver/ was unwilling to maintain and update hubs I imagine views and income would dwindle away. Worth the effort for the few high earning accounts but probably not worthwhile for the majority. Such is life - or death in this instance.

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7. 83

   samanthacubbisonposted 5 years ago

   If someone has access to the deceased's HubPages account they can replace the deceased's AdSense ID with their own AdSense ID. Even if it's a different name. The closing of an email account is not immediate, so you just need to replace their email with yours at some point.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, but they must have their own Adsense ID before they can do this.  In the case of spouses living at the same address, Adsense does not allow both people to have their own account (except in certain Asian countries for some reason)...so this stops any hopes of allowing someone to start his own HP or other account so that he can get an Adsense account. 
      
      What I would like to know is the exact procedure that would be used by HP to help an heir take over the accounts of the deceased.  Kind of a step by step thing, so that we can keep it for future reference. 
      
      The more I delve into this the more I realize that the linkage is tricky...ie, your email is connected to HP and Paypal so if you lose that, the heir can't get income, etc.
      
      Any help the team can give would be greatly appreciated, I'm sure.  The stickler here clearly is Adsense.  It would be nice if they would coordinate with the team to help set up a guide, but I doubt that would ever happen.
      
      The way they word things is very confusing.  For example, they state they now offer a way for people to change the payee name on the Adsense account in the event of changes such as death, BUT...they close the account upon notification of death...so it makes no sense. 
      
      Maybe we all can work together to figure this out.  One thing for sure is that I'm going to add a codicil to my will to protect my husband if I pass before he does.

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      1. STAFF

         Matt Wellsposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         The ownership of a HubPages account is established by:
         
         1. Access to the email address associated with the HubPages account.
         2. Knowledge of the username and password.
         3. Knowledge of the answers to the account security questions.
         
         If a Hubber is concerned about succession, they should make sure to share that information with whoever they would like to have control of their account upon passing.
         
         It is up to AdSense and PayPal how they deal with a deceased person's accounts. As you mentioned earlier, you can change the AdSense payee. You can also set up the Inactive Account Manager to let them know who should have access to Google accounts. For PayPal, you can close and receive payment from a deceased person's account.

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Where can I find my security questions?

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               lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               There are just two from what I recall. Go to your accounts page and click on balance history. You will be asked a security question. Note it down and the answer and reload the page a few times (maybe after clearing cache) to get the other question show up sometime.
               
               Also, why does an email account close after the death of someone? Unless it's through a business account or something of that sort.

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                  TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks.  You'll have to ask Yahoo why they close a deceased person's account, but I read that they do and assume that others follow suit.  Google also closes your accounts, which means that you'd lose the Gmail account, etc if you have one. These are some of the reasons why I think people have to tread carefully if they want their heir to be able to continue earning from their online writing accounts.  It seems that everything is specific to that one person, so when they go, you have to put accounts in your name, open new ones in your name or whatever and then close theirs.  This is no simple matter.
                  
                  I just spent almost two hours trying to type up directions for my husband ...OMG...trying to do this for someone who is not used to handling these online accounts is really tough!  However, it must be done.  It's been so long since I've done any of it that I'm not even sure of what I'm doing, but I will prevail lol!

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                     samanthacubbisonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                     When you sign up for a Yahoo account, their terms of use are unique in comparison to other email providers. Google won't do anything to your account after your passing, given that you did not provide deactivation instructions via the “Inactive Account Manager."

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                        samanthacubbisonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                        In regards to HubPages specifically, you do not need to close anyone's account. If you are the heir, you only have to replace the payment and contact information before taking over.

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                           TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

                           Would the heir not have to set up his own Paypal account, which would mean deleting the email on the HP account and changing it to a new email...and would he not have to also set up his own Google and Adsense accounts? 
                           
                           As I see it, the problem here is with the sites that HP links to, each having its own TOS.
                           
                           When a person dies, Social Security is notified.  They then notify the person's bank.  The bank then removes that person's name from their accounts.  So, when a check comes or a direct deposit is made in the deceased's name, there's no place for the money to be deposited.  This is the big sticking point.  I don't believe banks will allow a person's name to remain, even on a joint account, following death..but will investigate this. 
                           
                           The underlying problem is getting earnings from HP to the bank account.  This would be so much easier to do if Adsense wasn't so strict about account ownership.

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                        TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

                        ...but won't you have to inform Adsense of the death and wouldn't they then close your Google account?

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                           samanthacubbisonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                           As I said, the account payment/contact information does not need to match the username. You can just change it to yours (as the Adsense Payee).
                           
                           Think about it, users across multiple platforms don't use their "real name," but still have a proper payment plan set up.
                           
                           You can also, as Glenis Rix pointed out, take over a Gmail account if you want/have the proper info. But you could just use your own.
                           
                           Please reference Matt's post above with links for more clarity.

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                              TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

                              Samantha:  Do you know if when Adsense or  Paypal send electronic payments to a checking account if they send it in the name of the individual or to the account?  I'm thinking this is probably the case.  If so, it would not matter if my name was removed from my checking account if I died.

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                                 samanthacubbisonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                                 TimeTraveler2: I know that with PayPal you need your own (valid) phone/bank account number to get set up. The same can be said for Adsense, where you have to use your legal information. But the name on your HubPages account is irrelevant, as long as you have the correct login info and updated contact information as a successor.
                                 
                                 I'm not sure what you mean by "getting your name removed from your checking account," but regardless, it wouldn't be necessary because your successor would just plug in their own bank information to your HubPages account (which can stay as-is in every other way).

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                                    TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

                                    We have a joint account, so if I died, my name would have to be removed from it.  My husband's name would still remain and the account would still be the same account.  He would simply become the owner of the account.  This is why I was wondering if the payments came to the individual or to the bank.  Also, I read that Adsense will not allow two people to have Adsense accounts who live at the same address. Do you know if this is true?  I saw it on their site, but am not sure if that is for all countries or just for some outside of the U.S.  For Paypal the phone and bank account number would remain the same due to the fact that it's a joint account?

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                                       samanthacubbisonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                                       As far as I know, you can have the same address on your Adsense as long as your names are different (which in this case, they obviously are). This is just a precaution, because having more than one account per person is NOT allowed.
                                       
                                       Paypal payments go through PayPal and are then transferred to the bank after being approved, so it's technically both. Like you said, your name would be removed from your joint account upon your passing. So, in this scenario, your husband would be the sole owner of the bank account. He would create an Adsense ID to connect to his PayPal/bank, and then he'd be good to go.

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                                       1. 85

                                          TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

                                          Thanks so much for all the info.  Hopefully it won't be necessary to use it for a long time, but I think it's a good idea to know the guidelines ahead of time just in case.

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                                 TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

                                 Just found this.  This would mean that we could not each have our own HP accounts because although we live at the same address, we share a cell phone number and would both be linking to HP.  Kind of ties your hands!
                                 
                                 
                                 No doubt two Adsense accounts can have same or similar addresses or even names yet Google does not allow two Adsense accounts to same email ID, same mobile number and/or same linked website. ... It's already stated on google adsense policies that a single user can't have more than two account with same address.

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8. 93

   Glenis Rixposted 5 years ago

   

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   1. 93

      Glenis Rixposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      It appears that a beneficiary of the  deceased’s  estate would be able to submit a request for the release of monies held by Google. But there is nothing to suggest that the Adsense account could be adopted by the beneficiary. Which brings us back to the fact that in order to continue  to host ads on hubpages the beneficiary would need to open a new Adsense account. It may be the case that after the hubpages account has been transferred to the beneficiary Google Adsense would accept that the criterion of having published the required number of articles is already fulfilled, but this seems to be a grey area.Is this not an issue that the hubpages team can approach Google with in order to get clarification on a general principle?

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      1. 85

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, I saw this when researching, but it does not address the issue of account transfer because they do not allow transfers.  Also, you can't just simply change a payee once the account owner has died.  That would be considered fraud.
         
         I'm trying to find out if Google payments are sent in the name of the publisher or just as an electronic funds transfer to the account of the owner.  If it is the second one, it wouldn't matter if the publisher's name was removed from the account, if it is joint.  In this case, changing the payee might work, but it would be nice if Google would clarify this.  They do say that "death" is one of the conditions for changing the payee...but if they close the account upon notification of death, what good does this do?  Still searching for info.

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            Glenis Rixposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            I think it means that they will pay any money currently held to the Estate and then the account would be closed.

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            1. 85

               TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

               I tend to agree but don't know for sure.  This whole thing kind of catches heirs in a Catch 22, which is why I'm trying to get very clear guidance about how people can proceed.  Some here make really good money and to not have a way to allow their work to continue earning for an heir doesn't sit well with me.  Why should Google et al continue collecting money that should be going to designated heirs is that is what the writer wants?  Yes, you can terminate the accounts and remove content, but sometimes things happen unexpectedly and don't allow writers to do that.

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9. 93

   Glenis Rixposted 5 years ago

   Exactly my thoughts.

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