Service after an account holder's death
How do we handle a utility account after the holder's death so the family reports it once, provides the documents, and the account is closed, transferred or placed with the estate with the final bill routed correctly?
Open one case from the report and classify where the service goes. When a family member, an executor or an attorney reports a death, Callvu captures the report with the reporter's relationship and contact, applies the account protections the policy sets (collection calls paused, notices reviewed, the account flagged), classifies the situation (a surviving occupant who will take the service, a vacant premise to be closed, an estate that will keep service during sale), lists the documents for it (the death certificate, the executor's letters or a small estate affidavit, the successor's identity and application), chases them once through a link, routes the transfer or the estate decision to the service desk in the Decision Desk with the tariff's rules on deposits and balances, and writes the closure, the transfer or the estate account to CIS and the billing system with the final bill to the right person.
In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: chase and verify, classify, decide, write back
Last updated November 7, 2026.
The problem today
The widow was told to open a new account in her name and pay a deposit, while the collections calls to the house continued in her husband's.
A death reaches the utility as a call from someone grieving, and the response is often the worst of both worlds: the account stays in the deceased's name with collections running, and the survivor is told to apply as a stranger with a deposit. The estate's attorney asks for a final bill nobody can produce because the stop was never taken. The family is asked for the death certificate by three people.
The tariff and the utility's policy set the paths: the surviving spouse or occupant continues service, often with the deposit waived under the rules, the premise is closed with a final bill to the estate, or the estate holds the account during a sale. The documents are specific to the path. The collection and notice rules require the account to be protected from the first report. One case with a classification handles all of it.
The family should be asked once, and the service should go where the family needs it.
How it runs
From the requestto the system of record.
A death is reported by a family member, an executor, an attorney or a government notice, in any channel. Callvu opens the case on the account.
- Family member, executor or attorney
- Reports the death, provides the documents once through a link, and chooses the path for the service.
- Service desk
- Decides transfers, estate accounts and balance questions in the Decision Desk.
- Callvu
- Captures, protects, classifies, chases and checks, routes and writes.
Capture and protect
The report is captured with the reporter's identity, relationship and contact, and the date of death where known; the policy's protections apply: collection calls and automated outreach to the premise paused, pending disconnection reviewed, the account flagged, and the contact rules set so the family deals with one person.
Classify, chase and verify
The situation classifies the path and the documents: a surviving spouse or occupant taking the service (the death certificate, the successor's identity and application, with the deposit rule for successors applied), a vacant premise to be closed (the death certificate, the executor's or administrator's authority, the final bill address), or an estate keeping service during a sale (the letters or the affidavit, the estate's billing contact); the documents are requested once through a link, read on arrival and checked (the decedent against the account holder, the court and the date on the letters, the successor's identity).
Decide
A path inside the rules proceeds by rule; a transfer with a balance the tariff must address, an estate account, a successor whose authority is unclear, a premise with a tenant or a disputed occupancy, or a request to keep service in the deceased's name goes to the service desk in the Decision Desk with the documents and only the allowed outcomes (transfer to the successor with the deposit rule, close with the final bill to the estate, open the estate account, or hold for a document).
Write back
The closure with the stop order and the final bill to the estate's address, the transfer to the successor with the history and the deposit outcome, or the estate account with its contact is written to CIS and the billing system, the flag and the contact rules are kept until the case closes, the balance is handled under the tariff's rules for a deceased customer's debt, and the family receives the confirmation.
Where it ends: The death was handled from one case: the account protected, the family asked once, the service closed, transferred or placed with the estate under the tariff, and the final bill routed to the right person. The Decision Trace shows the classification, the document checks and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the report, the protections, the uploads and the write with time.
Runtime enforcement
What is enforcedwhile the work runs.
The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.
The handoff
Between the front doorand the back office.
The front door
Any channel; the family meets the process in one acknowledgment, one document link and one contact.
The back office
The service desk decides transfers, estates and balances with the documents; collections respects the flag.
The Decision Desk
- A transfer with a balance, an estate account, an unclear authority, a tenant or disputed occupancy, or a request to keep the deceased's name goes to the service desk in the Decision Desk with the documents and only transfer, close with the final bill to the estate, open the estate account, or hold for a document.
Proof
In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.
The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.
More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.
Across Callvu customers
PSEG Long Island runs start, stop and move service on Callvu, live in 4 weeks.
Across Callvu customers
Questions
What buyers ask next,answered plainly.
Does the surviving spouse have to apply as a new customer?
They take the service under the tariff's successor rules with the history carried over and the deposit rule for successors applied, decided by the service desk where the balance or the authority needs it.
What documents are needed?
The death certificate and, by path, the successor's identity and application, or the executor's letters or a small estate affidavit with the estate's final bill address; requested once through a link.
What happens to the balance?
It is handled under the commission's rules for a deceased customer's debt, which in most states do not allow it to be transferred to a successor who was not a party to the account.
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