Family Guide · Deceased CNIC Records
Deceased Person SIMs: Block, Transfer or Disown, Step by Step
Deceased person SIMs stay live until the family blocks, transfers or disowns them. PTA does not close them the moment someone dies. Gather three papers first: the death certificate, the heir’s CNIC and NADRA’s Family Registration Certificate. Then visit a franchise of each operator on the list. Block, transfer or disown every line, one by one. Finish at NADRA by cancelling the CNIC itself. The wider toolkit lives at Check SIM Owner Details Pakistan.
Deceased person SIMs: key takeaways
- Every SIM on a deceased CNIC keeps working until the family closes it. It keeps taking OTPs too.
- Papers first: death certificate, heir’s CNIC, NADRA’s FRC, and the deceased’s CNIC if you still have it.
- Per SIM you get three choices at the franchise: block it, transfer it to an heir by biometric, or disown it.
- Finish at NADRA. Cancel the CNIC so nothing new can ever register against that identity.
- PTA blocked more than 3.2 million deceased-CNIC SIMs in its July 2024 to June 2025 enforcement year. Families who wait sit in that queue.
This is paperwork nobody wants. The guide below is built to get the whole file closed inside a few weeks. Settling your own family’s record is fully legal. The one line that never moves is identity lookups on strangers, and our PECA 2016 legality page maps exactly where it sits.
On this page
Do a deceased person’s SIMs get blocked automatically in Pakistan?
Deceased person SIMs keep taking calls and OTPs until the family shuts them down. PTA’s cleanup runs on its own clock, not yours: its July 2024 to June 2025 sweep blocked more than 3.2 million SIMs registered on deceased CNICs. An idle line is the softest target fraud knows, especially when the CNIC behind it already sits in Pakistani leaked data.
PTA published that enforcement-year total itself, and our report on the deceased-CNIC blocking campaign unpacks how the sweep was run.
A regulator’s broom is slow, and it sweeps bluntly. Families who act within weeks close the risk on their own schedule, and they hold on to any number worth keeping. If a sweep gets there first, the heir can still bring a wrongly blocked SIM back, once the number sits in the heir’s own name.
How do I check which SIMs are registered on a deceased person’s CNIC?
SMS the 13-digit CNIC, with no dashes, to 668. The reply lists each operator’s SIM count and costs about Rs 2. Map the record before anyone sets off for a counter. The free PTA portal at cnic.sims.pk shows the same record with activation dates. It works from anywhere in the world, and it accepts NICOP and POC holders. That is a mercy for heirs abroad.
Note every operator with a count above zero. Each one is a separate franchise errand. Siblings who split the list save days. Old handsets speed the matching too: a found SIM can confirm its own number with one free code before you tie it to the 668 list. Screens and replies are decoded in the 668 guide, the portal walkthrough and the count decoder. Every other official route sits in our guide to checking SIM owner details. Do not detour through the unofficial SIM database services that promise the same record; only 668 and the portal read the live registry.
The four documents that open every counter
| Document | Issued by | Why the counter wants it |
|---|---|---|
| Death certificate | Union Council / NADRA | Proves the passing; the anchor of the whole file |
| Heir’s original CNIC | NADRA | Identifies the person acting; photocopies alone fail |
| FRC (Family Registration Certificate) | NADRA | Proves the relationship between heir and deceased |
| Deceased’s CNIC | If still held | Speeds matching; its absence does not stop the process |
The FRC deserves a word of its own, since many families first meet it here. NADRA issues it from the family tree held in its own records. It ties the heir standing at the counter to the name on the death certificate. Ask for it early. It tends to be the slowest mover of the four.
Operators keep their own fine print, and a franchise may add an indemnity form of its own. Even SCOM, the operator serving AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan, publishes this exact process on sco.gov.pk. That is a sign of how routine the file has become. Bring originals with one photocopy set, and few counters will turn you back.
At the franchise: block, transfer or disown
- Visit a franchise of each operator on your list, documents in hand.
- Decide per SIM: block it, transfer it to an heir, or disown it.
- For a transfer, the heir attends in person and verifies by fingerprint.
- Collect the confirmation slip or SMS before leaving, every time.
Block, transfer or disown deceased person SIMs
| Choice | Pick it when | What the counter needs |
|---|---|---|
| Block | Nobody in the family will use the line again | The papers, plus a request to shut the line down |
| Transfer | The number carries contacts, bank alerts and old chats | The heir in person, plus a live fingerprint check |
| Disown | The line was never the family’s at all | A fee capped at Rs 200 under PTA rules, waived in fraud cases |
Blocking is the same quiet housekeeping as choosing to deactivate an extra SIM on a living CNIC.
Transfer suits the number that a decade of contacts, bank alerts and the family WhatsApp all know. Ownership moves onto the heir’s CNIC through live biometric verification at the counter. If that heir is under 18, the step cannot run in a child’s name. The number then waits, or passes to a guardian, as the rules for SIMs and minors explain.
Disowning says on the record that a line was never the family’s at all. It is the right choice when a SIM was issued in the deceased’s name without the family ever knowing. Our block-and-disown guide carries the full playbook.
Do you have to cancel the CNIC at NADRA after someone dies?
Franchises close the lines that exist. NADRA closes the door on lines that do not exist yet. Report the death and have the CNIC cancelled. That identity can then never anchor a fresh SIM at any counter in the country. Skip this step and the file stays half shut.
Cancelling also cleans the registry that PTA’s sweeps read, so the record ends tidy on both sides. If a line later surfaces that should not, two guides pick up the trail: the blocked-SIM check and the unknown-SIM guide. An expired card is a different problem, handled in the expired-CNIC guide. For what a NADRA record actually shows, see our guide to checking CNIC details.
Roman Urdu mein
Kisi apne ke inteqal ke baad un ki SIMs khud band nahi hoti. Pehle 668 par CNIC SMS karein, ya cnic.sims.pk se dekhein ke kitni SIMs kis operator par hain. Phir death certificate, apna CNIC aur NADRA ki FRC le kar har operator ki franchise jayein. Har SIM ke liye teen raaste hain: band karwana, kisi waris ke naam biometric transfer, ya disown. Aakhir mein NADRA se CNIC cancel karwayein. Is tarah us shanakht par koi nai SIM kabhi na nikle gi. Yeh kaam hafton mein karein, mahinon mein nahi. PTA ne July 2024 se June 2025 ke aik saal mein 32 lakh se zyada aisi SIMs block ki hain.
Frequently asked questions
Can we keep using our late father’s number?
Yes, by making it yours. Take the death certificate, NADRA’s FRC and your own original CNIC to the operator’s franchise. Ask to transfer the number to an heir. The heir verifies by live fingerprint at the counter. The number survives, and the registration finally tells the truth.
What documents are needed for a deceased CNIC SIM transfer?
Death certificate, the heir’s original CNIC and NADRA’s Family Registration Certificate. Add the deceased’s CNIC if the family still holds it. The FRC proves the relationship between heir and deceased. Some franchises also add an indemnity form of their own. Carry originals plus one set of photocopies.
Do the SIMs not get blocked automatically when someone dies?
No, not at once. PTA blocked over 3.2 million SIMs registered on deceased CNICs in its July 2024 to June 2025 enforcement year. Sweeps still run on the regulator’s clock, and fraud runs faster than any sweep. Families who act within weeks close the risk on their own terms.
Is it legal for me to check my late parent’s SIM record?
Yes. Settling a parent’s record as an heir is exactly what 668 and the cnic.sims.pk portal exist for. PECA 2016 Section 16 punishes something else: prying into a stranger’s identity. That can carry up to three years in prison, a fine of up to Rs 5 million, or both. The boundary holds in every case.
We live abroad. Can this be done remotely?
The audit side, yes. cnic.sims.pk works worldwide and accepts NICOP and POC holders. Transfers are different, because they need live biometric verification at a franchise inside Pakistan. Most families time that with a visit home. In the meantime, ask the operator about blocking the line.
Written and reviewed by Muhammad Hamza, founder and editor of CnicSimInfo. The document list and franchise routes follow operator counter practice and SCO’s published guidance on sco.gov.pk; the 3.2 million figure is PTA’s own enforcement-year reporting. Last reviewed: 3 August 2026. See our editorial standards.