Estate planning at Alerus
How to protect 13 Alerus accounts — manage beneficiaries online, fund a trust in-branch, and file claims through Alerus's Alerus Wealth - Trust and Fiduciary
Alerus Financial Client Service Center
Alerus Corporate Office, PO Box 6001, Grand Forks, ND 58206-6001
Alerus Wealth - Trust and Fiduciary
Alerus Financial, N.A., PO Box 6001, Grand Forks, ND 58206-6001
Alerus Retirement and Benefits Client Service Center (plan and HSA death benefits); Alerus Financial (deposit and wealth accounts)
Alerus Retirement and Benefits, PO Box 64535, St. Paul, MN 55164-0535
How your Alerus accounts transfer at death depends on how each one is titled and whether a beneficiary is on file. Of those, 13 can name a trust as beneficiary or be retitled into a trust. Getting these details right keeps assets out of probate and ensures they reach the intended recipients.
Beneficiary designations at Alerus can be managed online, in branch, by mail, and by phone, typically taking 10-15 minutes online for retirement and HSA beneficiaries; a branch visit for deposit-account POD or trust titling. Trust funding is also available, allowing families to retitle accounts into the name of a revocable living trust.
Alerus has documented procedures for both preparing accounts during your lifetime and handling claims when an account holder passes away.
Preparing your estate
Beneficiaries and trust funding
How to manage beneficiaries online, fund a trust in-branch, and review 13 account types at Alerus.
View details →When someone dies
Death claim process
Contact Alerus's Alerus Wealth - Trust and Fiduciary to file a claim. 8-step process, 6 required documents, and contact information for survivors.
View details →Alerus's Alerus Wealth - Trust and Fiduciary can answer questions about beneficiaries, trusts, or death claims at 1-800-279-3200. Email inquiries can be sent to alerus@alerus.com.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The Alerus Consumer Terms and Conditions provide for fiduciary accounts opened and maintained by a person named as trustee under a written trust agreement. Bring the trust agreement or a certification of trust and your ID to an Alerus office and sign a new signature card in the trust's name. Alerus notes that by merely opening such an account it is not acting as trustee and does not undertake to monitor or enforce the terms of the trust. Employer retirement plans and the HSA cannot be retitled this way — the trust can only be named as beneficiary.
Only with your spouse's notarized waiver. Alerus states that unless your spouse consents via notarized waiver, you cannot designate someone else as the primary beneficiary of your retirement account. Alerus also requires documentation creating the trust: a signed separate trust agreement, or a will with trust provisions. Make the change in My Alerus at login.alerus.com under Accounts, Plan Summary, Manage Beneficiaries, or call 800-433-1685 for a paper form.
Sources
Data sourced from Alerus primary sources (15 pages reviewed). How we research.
Alerus Financial Client Service Center
Alerus Corporate Office, PO Box 6001, Grand Forks, ND 58206-6001
Alerus Wealth - Trust and Fiduciary
Alerus Financial, N.A., PO Box 6001, Grand Forks, ND 58206-6001
Alerus Retirement and Benefits Client Service Center (plan and HSA death benefits); Alerus Financial (deposit and wealth accounts)
Alerus Retirement and Benefits, PO Box 64535, St. Paul, MN 55164-0535
Estate planning articles
Learn how to protect your Alerus accounts and other assets with trusts, beneficiary designations, and estate planning documents.
