What to do when an Artisans' Bank account holder dies

When an owner of a joint account with survivorship dies, the balance passes to the owners still living, who keep holding it jointly with survivorship if there is more than one.¹

A joint account opened without survivorship gives no owner a claim to the others' shares at death, and the bank asks owners to record in writing what share each put in.¹

Beneficiaries of a pay-on-death or revocable trust account can draw on it only once everyone who opened it has died, and only if they are alive then. Two or more surviving beneficiaries take equal shares, with no survivorship between them.¹

An owner's death is one of the cases in which the early withdrawal penalty on an Artisans' certificate of deposit can be waived.^{2, 3}

If a certificate was pledged for a debt the bank agreed to, the debt is paid from it before a surviving joint owner or a beneficiary takes anything.²

The terms allow executors, administrators and conservators appointed by a court to open and keep accounts, and the bank takes no part in supervising what they do with the money.¹

Investment, IRA rollover and trust accounts with Artisans' partner advisor, which are not bank deposits^{4, 5}

Until it learns of the death and has had a fair chance to respond, the bank may keep paying the owner's checks. Checks written on or before the date of death may still be paid for ten days afterward unless a person with an interest in the account asks it to stop.¹

An authorized signer's authority ends when the owner dies, but the bank may go on honoring that signer's transactions until written notice or actual knowledge reaches it and it has time to act.¹

Where survivors or beneficiaries dispute who owns an account, the bank may freeze the money until a court rules or it is satisfied the disagreement is settled.¹

The bank may take money owed to it by any owner out of the account. That right does not reach an IRA, or a person whose only right to withdraw is as a representative.¹

A checking account with no deposits, withdrawals or transfers for over a year, or a savings or money market account idle for over two years, is treated as inactive and may be charged a monthly dormant fee.⁶

The account terms are governed by federal law and the law of Delaware.¹