What to do when an APGFCU account holder dies
Report the death to APGFCU's Support Services at 1-800-225-2555
The Support Services at APGFCU coordinates account transitions after a member's death. How each account is handled depends on its setup: POD and trust accounts transfer automatically, while solely-owned accounts typically require court authorization through Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
Death claim process
Follow these steps to file a death claim with APGFCU:
Filing a claim
- The deceased member's name, member number(s), and date of death
- Your name, street address, city/state/ZIP, phone, email, and relationship to the decedent
- Whether a death certificate has been received, and whether a letter of administration has been obtained if you are the executor
- File uploads for the death certificate, the letter of administration, and a copy of the reporting person's identification
- The online Deceased Member Account Form, with the uploads attached
- Secure email behind Online Banking
- Mail to APGFCU, ATTN: Support Services, P.O. Box 1176, Aberdeen, MD 21001-6176 (courier: APG Federal Credit Union, Edgewood Branch, 1321 Pulaski Highway, Edgewood, MD 21040)
- In person at any branch
Required Documents
- Death certificateRequired to begin.
- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, if an estate has been established, and for an account with no payable-on-death designation when probate is requiredFrom the register of wills, orphans' court, or clerk of court for the county where the member lived or died.
- Small estate appointment from the Register of Wills, when the estate is opened as a Maryland small estate
- Estate tax identification number (EIN) from the IRSFree from the IRS at irs.gov. APGFCU warns that paid services take up to five weeks.
- Copy of the identification of the person reporting the death
- Trust document or Certificate of Trust, and trustee identification, when a trust is the account owner or named beneficiary
Claims Contact
Website: Online portal →
Forms APGFCU issues1
- Deceased Member Account Form
Completed by the person reporting the death. Completed online.1
What happens to each kind of account6
- Account in one name
Without a payable-on-death designation, the funds pass through the estate, and the personal representative presents Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration. Estate accounts wait on the Maryland Register of Wills or the court of the state where the member lived.2
- Joint account with survivorship
The surviving joint owner may keep using the membership at first, but APGFCU asks that it be closed within a year of the primary member's death. It may stay open while the credit union works with the surviving owners and the executor.2
- Payable-on-death account
With no joint owner, the payable-on-death suffixes are closed once the death certificate is received and paid by check made out to the payee. Two or more surviving beneficiaries take equal shares, without right of survivorship between them.2
On a revocable trust or payable-on-death account, the beneficiaries cannot withdraw until every person who created the account has died.3
- Trust account
Trust-owned accounts are handled by the successor trustee.2
- Fiduciary account
Under the agreement's Fiduciary Accounts clause, APGFCU does not monitor or enforce the trust or the letters.3
- Certificate of deposit
The account agreement warns that an early withdrawal penalty may be imposed even on a withdrawal the member did not initiate, and refers to a separately provided notice of penalty.3
Accounts handled elsewhere1
- IRA Service Center
IRA claims2
What APGFCU's agreement and guidance say6
- Telling the institution
"You agree to notify us promptly if any person with a right to withdraw funds from your account(s) dies." APGFCU may keep honoring checks, items and instructions until it knows of the death and has had a reasonable opportunity to act.3
- Payments after the death
APGFCU may pay or certify checks drawn on or before the date of death for up to ten days after the death, unless someone claiming an interest in the account orders a stop payment.3
- Deposits after the death
Checks payable to the decedent and dated before the date of death can only be deposited into the primary member's own membership. Checks dated after the date of death must be negotiated through an estate account.2
A surviving spouse may deposit a joint tax refund check once APGFCU has the death certificate, endorsing it with the decedent's name followed by "deceased". Federal benefit payments received after the date of death may have to be returned.2
- Wills, probate and small estates
APGFCU does not interpret a will and does not want a copy of it; it disburses according to the membership agreement the primary member signed. A will does not override a payable-on-death designation, and the will goes to the register of wills or clerk of court.2
- Powers of attorney
Under the account agreement a power of attorney continues until the member's death. APGFCU may keep honoring the agent's transactions until it has written notice or actual knowledge of the death and a reasonable opportunity to act.3
- Dormant and unclaimed accounts
Under the agreement's Unclaimed Property clause, accounts with no activity or communication over a period of years are turned over to the state, and the claim then has to be made to the state rather than to APGFCU.3
IRA claims: roughly 24 business hours of processing for each form submitted to the IRA Service Center.
APGFCU's Support Services can be reached by phone at 1-800-225-2555 for questions throughout the claims process.
Sources
Data sourced from APGFCU primary sources (17 pages reviewed). How we research.
APGFCU death claims support
Support Services
Phone
Toll-free
Hours
Mailing address
Website
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