Recently a young (he was 55/56) YouTuber died. He had no wife and no children. His YouTube channel is still getting views – indeed, his videos probably got a yuge bump when news of his death broke.
Does this money go to his estate (presumaby his parents?). Does YouTube demonetize a channel when its owner dies?
From what I can tell, the Income from a deceased YouTuber goes to their designated beneficiaries or estate until their channel is closed. I assume this is all set up before their channel goes public. Someone will chime in if I have it wrong.
Adsense revenue is usually paid by bank transfer - If nothing specific is done to redirect the payments and the account of the deceased person gets closed, the bank transfers will just fail.
Google does have a process for transferring ownership of accounts - the process can be made simpler by nominating designated people in advance of death; otherwise there is a formal process where a death certificate and proof of authority must be presented.