Two hundred thousand frequent flyer miles. A guest suite’s worth of hotel points. A stack of credit card rewards that never quite got redeemed. None of it shows up on an estate inventory the way a house or a savings account does. And under most rewards program rules, none of it may legally belong to the person who spent years earning it.
If you’re serving as a personal representative or helping settle a loved one’s estate, you may wonder what happens to frequent flyer miles, hotel rewards, and credit card points after death. In Maryland, the answer depends less on estate law and more on the contracts governing each rewards program.
Every major airline, hotel chain, and credit card rewards program says some version of the same thing – the miles and points a person collects aren’t property that person owns outright. Ownership stays with the company running the program, under terms that usually end when the member dies. For a personal representative settling a Maryland estate, that raises a real question: are rewards accounts assets the estate must chase down, or something the law lets go?
Are Frequent Flyer Miles Considered Estate Property?
Under Maryland law, whether something counts as estate property depends on the terms of whatever governs it. For a bank account, that means the bank’s own rules. For a loyalty program, that means the program’s contract — a private agreement the company writes on whatever terms it wants.
Delta‘s rules put it about as plainly as a company can: miles are not the member’s property, and they cannot be transferred by will, by court order, or by any other means after death. American and United say much the same. When a member dies, the account closes and the balance is gone, unless the airline decides, entirely at its own discretion, to do something different.
The forfeiture language matters. A contract that ends a right at death also ends any claim the estate has to that right. If the miles were never the decedent’s property under the rules that governed them, the estate has no property interest to enforce.
Does a Maryland Personal Representative Have to Collect Rewards Points?
Maryland law gives a personal representative a duty to find estate assets, take possession of them, and protect them from loss. Ordinarily, failing to do so can create personal liability.
Rewards accounts, however, sit entirely outside that duty. When a program’s contract ends the member’s interest at death, the miles or points never become an estate asset in the first place. The personal representative has no legal obligation to collect the miles or points and incurs no liability for leaving them where they are.
While the law generally does not require a personal representative to pursue these rewards accounts, that doesn’t necessarily mean the opportunity is lost. Many companies have internal policies that allow transfers or redemptions in certain situations, even though they are not legally obligated to do so.
Can Airlines or Hotels Transfer Rewards Points After Death?
Even without a legal duty to claim rewards points, the personal representative may still want to ask. Several programs, while denying any legal obligation, will still make a one-time transfer as a courtesy.
American and United will sometimes credit miles to a person the personal representative identifies, if the request comes with a death certificate and proof of the requestor’s authority. The hotel chains go further still. Marriott will transfer points to a spouse or to a person named in the will, and Hilton will transfer points to a family member it approves. Delta, as of July 2026, offers no transfer process at all.
No program is legally required to make these transfers. Whether the personal representative receives anything depends entirely on which company held the account, and on whether the request is made.
How to Request a Transfer of Frequent Flyer Miles or Rewards Points
Requesting a transfer looks about the same across every program, it’s worth confirming the current process with each company. Typically, a personal representative needs:
- A certified death certificate.
- Proof of the personal representative’s authority, typically letters of administration.
- A written request sent to the program’s own estate or bereavement contact, usually within about a year of the death.
A few patterns are worth knowing before making that request:
- Airlines vary widely. American and United will consider a one-time transfer; Delta currently will not.
- Hotel programs tend to be the most flexible about transferring points to a family member.
- Credit card rewards are usually handled through the card issuer’s estate services, and are more often redeemed for a statement credit than transferred to someone else.
None of these outcomes are guaranteed, and none are owed. But asking costs nothing, and the response is often more generous than the contract language suggests.
The Bottom Line for Maryland Families
Maryland law requires a personal representative to locate and protect most estate assets. Frequent flyer miles, hotel rewards, and credit card points are different because they are generally governed by private contracts rather than traditional property law.
While there is usually no legal duty to collect these rewards, it is often worth asking the company about its bereavement or estate policies. In some cases, miles or points may be transferred or redeemed as a courtesy, even when the program’s terms say otherwise.
If you are administering an estate in Maryland and have questions about your responsibilities as a personal representative, experienced legal guidance can help you understand which assets require action and which do not.