What to do when a Bar Harbor Bank account holder dies
Contact Bar Harbor Bank's Bar Harbor Wealth Management (trust services, estate planning, and estate settlement) — 7-step process, 9 required documents, and 5-10 business days after all documentation is received. add the 90-day statutory beneficiary hold in new hampshire and vermont, and add probate time where letters are required.
Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, PO Box 1089, Ellsworth, ME 04605-9963
Bar Harbor Wealth Management (trust services, estate planning, and estate settlement)
Bar Harbor Wealth Management, 90 North Main Street, Concord, NH 03301
Customer Service Center (estate settlement is handled through the branches; Bar Harbor publishes no separate claims department, claims fax, or claims portal)
Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, PO Box 1089, Ellsworth, ME 04605-9963
When an account holder at Bar Harbor Bank passes away, the next step depends on how the accounts were set up. Accounts with beneficiary designations or trust ownership transfer outside of probate. Accounts titled solely in the deceased's name require the estate's legal representative to work with Bar Harbor Bank's Customer Service Center (estate settlement is handled through the branches; Bar Harbor publishes no separate claims department, claims fax, or claims portal) (1-888-853-7100) to access and distribute the funds.
Bar Harbor Bank offers an online claims portal that makes the initial filing process more straightforward. Survivors can also initiate claims by phone or by mailing documentation directly.
Deposit, investment & retirement accounts
To file a claim after an account holder's death, here is what Bar Harbor Bank requires:
Filing a claim
- Certified copy of the death certificate
- Valid government-issued photo ID for the claimant
- Account numbers for the deceased, if available
- Joint accounts: Bar Harbor "does not offer multiple party accounts without survivorship rights," so any sum remaining in a joint account passes to the surviving party or parties. Provide the death certificate; the survivor keeps access.
- POD / Revocable Trust deposit accounts: named beneficiaries present the death certificate and photo ID. Multiple beneficiaries take in EQUAL SHARES, without right of survivorship — the bank does not honor percentage splits on deposit POD designations.
- New Hampshire and Vermont POD accounts only: the beneficiary cannot withdraw until 90 days have passed since the last surviving account holder died, and only if the bank was not served during that window with process from the personal representative or a probate court order prohibiting payment. Maine POD accounts have no waiting period.
- Trust accounts: successor trustee provides the death certificate, the trust document (or Certification of Trust) showing the successor trustee provisions, and trustee photo ID.
- No beneficiary and no surviving joint owner: obtain Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration from the probate court. In Maine, an estate whose personal property does not exceed $40,000 (inflation-adjusted) may instead be collected by affidavit 30 days after death under 18-C M.R.S. 3-1201.
- IRAs and HSAs: the named beneficiary claims through the branch-issued IRA/HSA beneficiary distribution paperwork, not the deposit POD path.
Required Documents
- Certified copy of the death certificate
- Valid government-issued photo ID for the claimant (beneficiary, executor, administrator, or successor trustee)
- Account information for the deceased (account numbers if available)
- For accounts without beneficiary: Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration from the court
- For Maine small estates: collection-by-affidavit document under 18-C M.R.S. 3-1201 (personal estate not over $40,000, inflation-adjusted; at least 30 days since death)
- For trust accounts: trust documentation including successor trustee provisions and trustee ID
- For IRA accounts: branch-issued IRA beneficiary claim and distribution election forms
- For an estate account: the estate EIN confirmation and the appointment order or Letters
- For a Bar Harbor mortgage: the Successor in Interest package plus proof of your ownership interest in the property
What to know at this institution
Visiting a local branch is the most direct way to initiate the estate settlement process; Bar Harbor Bank & Trust operates approximately 62 branches across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont and does not run a separate centralized estate-claims unit or claims fax line. Facts drawn from the Account Agreement (Effective 2.2.26): you must notify the bank promptly of an account holder's death; the bank may continue to honor the deceased's checks, items, and instructions until it knows of the death and has had a reasonable opportunity to act; it may pay or certify checks drawn on or before the date of death for up to ten days after death unless a person claiming an interest orders a stop payment; deposit POD beneficiaries take in equal shares without right of survivorship; NH and VT POD beneficiaries must wait 90 days after the last account holder's death; the bank may set off account funds against debts owed to it and you agree to hold it harmless for exercising that right; any pledge of the account is satisfied before survivor or beneficiary rights take effect; and the bank may place an administrative hold when survivors or beneficiaries assert competing claims. Early withdrawal penalties can be imposed on a CD even when the withdrawal is involuntary (for example, one caused by the bank's setoff or by legal process), so a CD closed out during settlement is not automatically penalty-free. Mortgages and home equity loans are handled through the Successor in Interest process (call 888-853-7100). For estates that want professional administration, Bar Harbor Wealth Management (888-675-5244) can act as trustee and can assist an executor or administrator with paying debts, expenses, legacies, and taxes, and with preparing and filing the decedent's estate tax returns.
Mortgage and home lending
Mortgages and home equity loans are liabilities, not assets. They do not have beneficiaries and cannot be retitled to a trust. When a borrower dies, the loan obligation transfers with the property to whoever inherits it. Under the federal Garn-St. Germain Act, the lender cannot accelerate the loan or call it due when the property transfers to a surviving spouse, child, or the borrower’s revocable trust.
- Deceased borrower's full legal name and loan number
- Certified copy of the death certificate
- Continue making payments on the existing loan
- Assume the loan
- Refinance in your own name
- Pay off the remaining balance
Required Documents
- Certified copy of the death certificate
- Government-issued photo ID for the heir or personal representative
- Completed Successor in Interest form (obtained from mortgage servicing department)
- Documentation proving ownership interest in the property: probated will, court order, recorded deed, or trust document showing you as successor trustee or beneficiary
- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration (if going through probate)
- Marriage certificate (if surviving spouse)
What to know at this institution
Under the federal Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act (12 U.S.C. 1701j-3), Bar Harbor Bank & Trust cannot enforce a due-on-sale clause when the property transfers to a surviving spouse, child, relative upon death, or the borrower's revocable living trust. Bar Harbor Bank & Trust services 99% of its mortgage loans locally, so the servicing department is accessible through the same customer service line.
Prepare your letter of instruction to Bar Harbor Bank
Bar Harbor Bank accepts a claimant-drafted letter of instruction. We draft it for you — addressed to Bar Harbor Bank's verified claims department, with the documents it requires enclosed.
Build your letter of instructionOpening an account for the estate itself
Checks made out to the estate deposit into an account titled to the estate, opened by the appointed executor or administrator under the estate's EIN.
How to open an estate account at Bar Harbor Bank →How long the process takes at Bar Harbor Bank: 5-10 business days after all documentation is received. Add the 90-day statutory beneficiary hold in New Hampshire and Vermont, and add probate time where Letters are required. The most common reason for delays is missing or incomplete documentation, so submitting everything upfront is the best way to keep things moving.
Documentation required by Bar Harbor Bank includes Certified copy of the death certificate, Valid government-issued photo ID for the claimant (beneficiary, executor, administrator, or successor trustee), and Account information for the deceased (account numbers if available), along with additional paperwork that varies by account type. All death certificates and court documents must be certified copies.
Frequently asked questions
Equally. The Bar Harbor Account Agreement (Effective 2.2.26) provides for Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire alike that if two or more beneficiaries are named and survive the death of all persons who created the account, they own the account in equal shares, without right of survivorship. Percentage allocations are not available on a deposit-account POD (Payable on Death) designation, so if you want an unequal split you need separate accounts or a trust. Beneficiaries also cannot withdraw until every person who created the account has died and the beneficiary is then living. The person who created the account can change beneficiaries, change the account type, or withdraw the funds at any time while living.
It depends on the state where the account is held. Under the Account Agreement (Effective 2.2.26), New Hampshire and Vermont Pay-on-Death accounts carry a 90-day hold: the beneficiary cannot withdraw until 90 days have passed since the last surviving account holder died, the beneficiary is then living, and the bank was not served during that window with process from the account holder's personal representative or with a probate court order prohibiting payment. Maine POD accounts have no equivalent waiting period. Separately, Bar Harbor may keep honoring the deceased's checks, items, and instructions until it knows of the death and has had a reasonable opportunity to act, and may pay or certify checks drawn on or before the date of death for up to ten days after death unless someone claiming an interest in the account orders a stop payment. That is why the Account Agreement requires prompt notice of a death: call 888-853-7100 or visit a branch as soon as possible, and say whether checks are outstanding.
No. Bank deposit accounts (checking, savings, money market, CDs) are FDIC insured and pass to a POD beneficiary or successor trustee directly through the bank. Investment and insurance products offered through Bar Harbor Financial Services are sold through Osaic Institutions, Inc. (Member FINRA/SIPC) and are not FDIC insured, not bank guaranteed, and may lose value. A brokerage account settled at death goes through the TOD beneficiary designation or trust titling on file with Osaic, not through a Bar Harbor Bank branch. Osaic Institutions and Bar Harbor Bank & Trust are not affiliated, so the death claim for those assets is handled separately from the bank deposit claim.
Bar Harbor Bank's Customer Service Center (estate settlement is handled through the branches; Bar Harbor publishes no separate claims department, claims fax, or claims portal) can be reached by phone at 1-888-853-7100 and email at customerservicecenter@barharbor.bank for questions throughout the claims process.
If the deceased held multiple Bar Harbor Bank accounts, each may require a separate claim or have different documentation requirements. The Customer Service Center (estate settlement is handled through the branches; Bar Harbor publishes no separate claims department, claims fax, or claims portal) can confirm which accounts require individual attention and which can be processed together.
Sources
Data sourced from Bar Harbor Bank primary sources (22 pages reviewed). How we research.
Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, PO Box 1089, Ellsworth, ME 04605-9963
Bar Harbor Wealth Management (trust services, estate planning, and estate settlement)
Bar Harbor Wealth Management, 90 North Main Street, Concord, NH 03301
Customer Service Center (estate settlement is handled through the branches; Bar Harbor publishes no separate claims department, claims fax, or claims portal)
Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, PO Box 1089, Ellsworth, ME 04605-9963
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