  We revisit the role of shake-up and shake-off effects in neutrinoless
double-beta decay, following earlier work by Drukarev et al. We find in
agreement with Drukarev et al. that the Q value of the decay is reduced by any
atomic excitation in the final-state but not by the difference in atomic
binding energy of the initial and final state atoms, as was recently suggested
by Mei and Wei. We discuss how the absorption of subsequent atomic
de-excitation ejecta shifts the neutrinoless double-beta decay peak back to its
nominal value. We propose an in situ experimental verification of these ideas,
and discuss the impact of shake-up and shake-off on two-neutrino double-beta
decay spectral shapes.
