How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at Black Hills FCU

POD is available on deposit accounts: checking, savings, money market and share certificates.¹

The designation is made per account, not per member, so each deposit account to be covered is listed.¹

The agreement's POD and trust designation clause "does not apply to an account held on behalf of or held in the name of a trust." A trust-titled account is governed by the trust, not by a POD instruction.²

POD and trust beneficiary designations do not apply to IRAs. IRA beneficiaries are named separately on the IRA.²

A deposit-account POD designation does not reach an HSA. HSA beneficiaries are named separately on the HSA.¹

Youth (VIBZ) accounts are not offered with POD designations.¹

A trust can be named as beneficiary. The Membership and Account Agreement treats POD and trust beneficiary/payee designations under the same clause.²

An IRA cannot be titled to a trust; the trust is named as beneficiary of the IRA instead.³

An HSA cannot be titled to a trust; the trust is named as beneficiary of the HSA instead.³

If two or more beneficiaries survive the owner, they own the account in equal shares with right of survivorship.²

The owner signs the POD designation on each deposit account to be covered.¹

The owner keeps full control: the agreement reserves the right to change beneficiaries or withdraw all or part of the balance at any time.²

A beneficiary takes only if the owner dies and the beneficiary is then living.²

The agreement records the designation as "an instruction to the credit union" that the account is payable to the owners during their lifetimes and, when the last owner dies, to the surviving beneficiaries.²

The credit union "is not obligated to notify any beneficiary/payee of the existence of any account or the vesting of the beneficiary/payee's interest in any account, except as otherwise provided by law."²

Once an account is titled to the trust, the trust document controls distribution and any earlier POD instruction on that account no longer governs.²

An IRA stays titled as it is: the Truth in Savings disclosure states IRAs may not be pledged, transferred or assigned.³

An HSA stays titled as it is: the Truth in Savings disclosure states HSAs may not be pledged, transferred or assigned.³

The agreement provides that an individual account "is an account owned by one (1) member (individual, corporation, partnership, trust, or other organization) qualified for credit union membership."²

Retitling a certificate mid-term does not trigger the early withdrawal penalty, because it is a change of title rather than a withdrawal.¹

Corporate trustee services, for a trust that names a corporate trustee rather than a family trustee⁴