I had a personal account, my husband has family account I want to join the family but had to cancel personal first, but it does not show on my page that i am linked to the family subscription

Question

I turned off recurring billing, now it keeps warning me I will lose access 8/1/25

why doesn't the family subscription show active? I accepted the invitation

Answer 1

Hi Gail Mercer

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum. Thanks for reaching out and sharing your issue.

I understand the confusion you're experiencing with your Microsoft 365 subscription status after moving from a Personal plan to a Family subscription shared by your husband.

A Microsoft account cannot hold both a Personal and a Family license at the same time. If your account previously had a Microsoft 365 Personal subscription, that license must fully expire or be cancelled before the Family license becomes active. You’ve made the right move by cancelling the Personal subscription first.

When transitioning from Microsoft 365 Personal to a Family plan, there are a few key factors to keep in mind. To help ensure everything is set up correctly and your access is uninterrupted, please review the following steps:

• Please ensure that you accepted the Family invitation using the correct Microsoft account and email address. Then sign in Microsoft account and re-check if the Family subscription appears. It should say something like: “Shared by [your husband’s name]” under Microsoft 365. 
• If it does not appear, kindly ask your husband to verify the sharing status at Microsoft Family. Please note that Microsoft 365 Family supports up to 5 additional users (6 in total including the owner).
• If you've recently accepted the invitation and everything is set up correctly, you may consider waiting up to 24 hours for the system to apply the new license and reflect the change in your account. 

During this time, you may temporarily see alerts (e.g., “You’ll lose access on 8/1/25”).

If the issue still persists, it is essential to ask your husband:

• Remove your email from the Family group via Microsoft Family > then re-add you and send a new invitation.
• Please refer to Share your Microsoft 365 Family subscription for detailed steps.

If I misunderstand your issue, please provide me with further specifics or screenshots. I truly appreciate your patience and understanding. Hope the details provided will assist you effectively.

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Answer 2

Dear Gail Mercer

Thank you so much for the follow-up.
As mentioned before, Microsoft does not automatically override an active Personal subscription with a Family license. The Family subscription will only become active after the Personal subscription expires.

However, you still can cancel your Personal subscription before its expiration date by visiting this official article for detailed steps. Once canceled, your account will revert to the free tier, and the Family license should activate provided your account is correctly linked to the Family group and there are available seats.

Please note: Activation of the Family license may not be immediate. You may experience a short delay before premium features become available.

For your information, you will not lose your data when your Personal subscription expires or is canceled. Your OneDrive files, emails, and account settings will remain intact.

If your storage exceeds the free 5 GB limit, you may be unable to upload or sync new files until the Family license activates. Microsoft provides a 6-month grace period before any excess data is deleted.

If you're not eligible for a refund or prefer to avoid temporary loss of premium features, it may be safer to wait until your Personal plan expires. At that point, your account should automatically transition to the Family subscription assuming you remain in the Family group and have accepted the invitation.

I’d be grateful if you could mark my answer as Accepted. It helps other affected users find this thread more easily and acknowledges the support you received.

Answer 3

Accepted answer but have to wait ans see after August 1