So you’ve just become “dead money” literally. Say the unthinkable happens and you get into a car accident, have a heart attack or die suddenly after choking on a peanut. What happens to any funds you might have in your online poker account?

We have the answer for you. After reading this article you might want to think twice about dying. :)

The way poker rooms deal with inactive accounts varies greatly.  Some poker rooms charge outrageous inactivity fees until accounts are depleted and some let accounts stay open indefinitely without any charges.

In most cases the common procedure was to allow a 12 month inactivity period.  After that period the funds would be placed in “suspense accounts” whereas the poker site would attempt to contact the inactive (dead) person via email.  Phone calls or paper letters to try and contact the account holder or deceased family members are never attempted.

After 12 months they’ll usually email you and give you up to 60-180 days to claim the funds.  Since you’re dead you better hope a family member is still checking your emails.  If not the poker site escheats the money.  Escheat is just a legal term meaning they take your “dead money”.  This practice was common at Third Bullet Poker and True Poker and most other sites.

So what about Partypoker.com?  At Party Poker if your account goes inactive for any longer than 180 days they begin charging you a $5 monthly fee until your money is completely gone.

ParadisePoker and Full Tilt assured us your next of kin or beneficiary will always have access to your funds if contacted later down the road.  There were no strict terms in their agreement which gives them rights to your money if you die and nobody claims if for awhile.

One of the harshest dormant/deceased account fees we could find was at PacificPoker.com.  After 180 days is when they start whacking you with a whopping 10% balance fee.  So if you had $10,000 in your poker account they will take $1000 per month for 10 months and then your account is closed.  And you thought your credit card APR was bad.  It pales in comparison to Pacific’s 120% APR…yikes.

In just about all instances if you are a family member of the deceased and can provide proper documents to the poker room they will allow the funds to be released back.  Just make sure you do it within at least 6 months or the money just might disappear.

Article by Roger