Breach of Contract by Dying?

In July of 2018, PayPal sent a letter to a credit loan customer in England informing her she was in breach of contract, leaving an outstanding loan balance of more

than 3,700 pounds. The problem? The letter was in response to a notification from her husband that she had passed away. They wrote, “You are in breach of condition

15.4(c) of your agreement with PayPal Credit, as we have received notice that you are deceased.” The letter continued by informing the deceased that “[t]his breach

is not capable of remedy.”

This case is unusual because death doesn’t usually trigger a breach of contract, and notifying the deceased about a breach would get the contract parties nowhere.

Although in some cases, death allows the other party to declare the contract void. Thankfully, PayPal apologized for their mistake instead of attempting to take a dead woman to court.