When my father died my mother notified the credit card company that promptly cancelled her credit card. I never did find out if it was a joint account or if my mother was an authorized user on my father's account. My mother worked full time as a teacher once her youngest was in school. No one had a more secure income than my mother: Social Security and New York State Teacher's Pension. No employed person can beat that security of guaranteed, inflation-adjusted income. I contacted the credit card company, wrote letters, sent documentation of my mother's income... didn't work. Finally I added my mother as an authorized user on one of my cards where she was essentially the only user. Which turned out to be a good thing as I could monitor her spending and ensure there were no fraudulent charges. This benefit became more apparent as she aged and started having memory problems.
I always wondered if my mother hadn't notified the credit card company if she could have continued to use the card indefinitely. My father's obituary wasn't published in The New York Times.
So, is that credit card with your name (your mother) on it really "your" card or are you (your mother) a joint user or authorized user. A joint account holder is equally responsible for repayment and thus won't lose charging privileges is the other joint user dies (or divorces). If you are simply an authorized user, you could be in for a surprise at the death of the primary card holder.
Some credit cards allow the primary card holder to set spending limits for the authorized user. This can be a good way for parents to help a young adult learn to use a credit card responsibly. It's easy to remove an authorized user from a credit card.
Not all banks (credit card issuers) offer joint accounts.
Time to check on your or your aging parents' credit cards.
