How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at Bar Harbor Bank

The POD designation is made on the bank's account records at a branch.¹

The Account Agreement's "Revocable Trust or Pay-On-Death Account" in Maine and Vermont is a bank-record beneficiary designation, not a funded formal trust.²

IRA beneficiary forms are issued by the branch or by the Customer Service Center. The IRA Beneficiary Designation form has primary and contingent beneficiary sections.¹

A trust can be named as beneficiary. A trust beneficiary designation may require a copy of the Certification of Trust.¹

If two or more beneficiaries are named and survive everyone who created the account, the agreement says "such beneficiaries will own this account in equal shares, without right of survivorship." This holds in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire alike.²

Percentage allocations are not available on a deposit POD designation.²

For IRAs. Sent by the institution on request.¹

Return to

Sent by the institution on request.¹

Return to

The person who creates the account may change beneficiaries, change account types, and withdraw all or part of the funds at any time.²

On a joint POD account, beneficiaries cannot withdraw until all persons who created the account have died and the beneficiary is then living.¹

Any pledge of the account that the bank has consented to must be satisfied before the rights of any surviving owner or account beneficiary become effective.²

A Signature Guarantee is free to Bar Harbor customers. The Fee Schedule lists "Signature Guarantee (customers only) No Charge."³

An authorized signer or agent only conducts transactions for the owner and cannot affect the rights of the owner or beneficiaries except by withdrawing funds.²

An agent's authority ends at the owner's death, and a power of attorney continues until the death of the owner or the agent. The bank may keep honoring the agent's transactions until it has written notice or actual knowledge of the death and a reasonable chance to act.²

Bar Harbor does not permit authorized signers or agents on a safe deposit box, so a box cannot be accessed through a power of attorney.¹

In Maine the account form is called a "Revocable Trust or Pay-On-Death Account."²

Maine POD accounts have no 90-day beneficiary hold.²

In Vermont the account form is called a "Revocable Trust or Pay-On-Death Account." At the death of the surviving trustee the deposit may be paid to the person for whom the deposit was made, or to their estate.²

A POD beneficiary cannot withdraw until 90 days after the last surviving account holder died, and only if in that period the bank was not served with process by the personal representative or with a probate court order prohibiting payment.²

In New Hampshire the account form is called a "Pay-on-Death Account."²

A POD beneficiary cannot withdraw until 90 days after the last surviving account holder died, and only if in that period the bank was not served with process by the personal representative or with a probate court order prohibiting payment.²

Bar Harbor Bank & Trust accepts both revocable and irrevocable trusts for deposit accounts. Trust account paperwork is branch-issued.¹

IRA accounts cannot be retitled to a trust.¹

Sent by the institution on request.¹

Return to

Acting as trustee, with professional investment management, record keeping and tax reporting¹