How long do credit cards keep working after you disappear?
This may be a morbid question, but let's treat it as a thought experiment: how can I keep my website running for posterity after I die?
Say I have enough ad revenue from the site to pay for web hosting. This revenue goes to my bank account every month. From there, I'd set auto-pay for my credit card. The credit card pays my web hosting provider (let's assume they don't go out of business).
How long do various credit cards continue to work after you die? Do CC companies even care to find out you've kicked the bucket? If you just go offline for a while (imagine trekking India for a year), presumably your accounts should keep working. But what if you die? What signals are sent by coroners or whoever gets involved?
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Generally speaking the bank accounts and credit card accounts remain open. Banks and the credit card companies don't monitor public records on a daily basis. Instead, whoever is handling your estate will need to obtain copies of your death certificate and they will then search your paper records to identify all accounts (reason to get your act together - there are books on the subject). The executor will work with the banks and card companies to make sure all your charges and payments clear (common to have them open for months or even a year) and to make close or transfer autopays. They will make sure to notify the credit agencies to flag your accounts so no new accounts can be created. MANY copies of the death certicates are needed.
how can I keep my website running for posterity after I die?
If this is the real problem, incorporate a non-profit corporation or have a lawyer set up a foundation. Those will survive after your death and their bank accounts with them.
You might even find someone willing to do this for you. It sounds like a neat business. Collect the ad revenue, charge a fee, pay the web hosting. Heck, this is a decent deal for a web host. Provide the web hosting; collect the ad revenue.
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