Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Roddy Nield is packing up his late mother's home. As part of that, he needs to cancel her home security contract. The issue is that the company won't let him simply cancel it.
"We just want to stop the service, and they won't let us unless the contract is fulfilled," Nield told us.
29 months left
His mom died with 29 months left on her contract. Nield said the security company wants $1,100 to wind up her account.
"They said, 'Well, the estate will pay for it,'" he said of the response he got when he asked the home security provider what'd happen if he didn't pay that $1,100.
Nield doesn't believe his mom's estate should pay. He argues her latest contract was just a renewal, and the equipment had already been installed and paid for years ago.
"Life happens, or you pass," he said. "I'm pretty sure you could write off whatever is there."
Still, he says the security company refuses to budge. So, he decided to Get Gephardt.
The KSL Investigators reached out to Safeguard America and asked why they didn't end his mom's contract when she died.
Outlived by contracts
While we waited for their response, we took Roddy Nield's situation to Britten Hepworth — an attorney with expertise in estate planning.
"Contracts do survive you," he explained. "Generally speaking, almost every contract you enter into is going to be enforceable even after you die."
Hepworth says it hinges on the contract's wording. There could be some sort of death clause that would free the estate of a deceased person of a contractual obligation.
In the home security contract of Nield's mother, we found no such clause. Still, there could be another option.
"Usually, you can negotiate this stuff," Hepworth said.
He says a home security company is usually considered an unsecured creditor. That makes them low priority on an estate's list of obligations. That might make a company more willing to deal.
"We're better off probably negotiating with an estate to get what we can as opposed to, you know, trying to collect when we're really at the bottom of the pile here," Hepworth said of the general attitude of unsecured creditors when it comes to enforcing a contract with a deceased person's estate.
It took weeks, but we did finally hear back from Safeguard America. A compliance officer and counsel told us they'd review this account and get back to us with answers. But despite our follow-ups, the company did not respond in the month before the story aired.
As for his mom's contract, Roddy Nield told me, grudgingly, it'll be paid off.
"It's like — show some compassion," Hepworth said.
What if there's no estate left?
Generally, a company cannot chase down family members for a deceased person's unfilled contract if that person's estate doesn't have enough money, says Hepworth. In that case, the debt usually has to go unpaid.
Update
The day after our story aired, we heard back from a lawyer at Safeguard America. In an email, the counsel wrote that Nield's mother's contract was not a system renewal as we reported, but rather a new system installed in 2022. As a general policy, they say, the company does not enforce contracts in the same way when the customer is in a renewal term.
They've also had a change of heart. Safeguard America told KSL they will cancel the contract without requiring the estate of Nield's mother to pay it off.
