We’ve received questions regarding economic stimulus checks being paid to deceased individuals. Unfortunately the news agencies are making misleading statements to the extent that individuals who paid income tax and filed a tax return in 2018 or 2019 are entitled to the stimulus payment. They neglect to point out that estates and trusts are excluded from the definition of an eligible individual.
Sec. 6428.2020(e)(3) defines eligible individuals:
- (3) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘eligible individual’ means any individual other than—
- (A) any nonresident alien individual,
- (B) any individual with respect to whom a deduction under section 151 is allowable to another taxpayer for a taxable year beginning in the calendar year in which the individual’s taxable year begins, and
- (C) an estate or trust.
Short answer: no, a deceased individual’s estate is not entitled to an economic stimulus payment.
The complete text of the Cares Act can be found at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3548/text
Prince Law Offices Blog 
Levin was reacting to rulings Thursday by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that allowed mail-in ballots received up to three days after Election Day to be counted — even if they had no evidence of being postmarked by Election Day. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar (D) also issued a directive preventing county election officials from comparing signatures on mail-in ballots to signatures on the voter rolls.
In his radio show on Thursday, Levin called on Republicans to convene the state legislatures to exercise their powers, expressly described by Article II of the Constitution, to set the rules for the appointment of Electors in presidential elections.
The legislatures could, he said, explicitly state that the courts’ interpretations of state election laws were invalid, and could bolster existing state laws on procedures and deadlines for mailed ballots.
“They need to act, and they need to act now,” he said.
“Under our federal Constitution … they left it to the elected legislatures, not to unelected — or elected — Supreme Court justices in the states. They don’t have the final say [on election law] under our Constitution. The legislature does.
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