What to do when a Chevy Chase Trust account holder dies
Report the death to Chevy Chase Trust's Estate Settlement at 1-240-497-5000
What happens to Chevy Chase Trust investment accounts after the account holder dies depends on how each account was titled. Beneficiary-designated and trust-owned accounts transfer directly. Accounts in the deceased's name alone go through the estate, and the executor or administrator works with Chevy Chase Trust's Estate Settlement (1-240-497-5000) to claim the funds.
Begin by calling Chevy Chase Trust at 1-240-497-5000. You will need the deceased's full name, account numbers, and the death certificate to get the process started.
Death claim process
Here is the step-by-step death claim process at Chevy Chase Trust:
Filing a claim
- Bethesda: (240) 497-5000
- McLean/Tysons: (571) 622-1200
- Client service line in the firm FAQ: 1-888-940-2282, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday
- 1-800-461-0237 is the Chevy Chase Trust Online login help desk (PIN #0633), not a claims number
- The deceased person's Senior Trust Officer directly, if you know who that is
- Bethesda office: (240) 497-5000
- McLean/Tysons office: (571) 622-1200
- Client service line: 1-888-940-2282, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday
- Chevy Chase Trust, 7501 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1500W, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
- Or the McLean/Tysons office: Chevy Chase Trust, 8201 Greensboro Drive, Suite 450, McLean, Virginia 22102
- Address it to the deceased person's Senior Trust Officer where you know the name; otherwise to the Planning & Fiduciary Services team
Required Documents
- Certified death certificate
- Government-issued IDFor the beneficiary, surviving joint owner, successor trustee or personal representative.
- Instructions for where the assets should go, for a TOD or beneficiary registration
- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, where no TOD, beneficiary or survivorship registration applies
- Trust agreement or certificate of trust, for a trust-titled account where an outside successor trustee takes overWith the amendment or restatement naming the successor trustee, and that trustee's acceptance.
- Small estate affidavit, where the account qualifies under the governing state's small-estate limit
- Written request for date-of-death valuations and cost-basis reporting, for every affected account
Claims Contact
Website: Online portal →
What happens to each kind of account1
- Fiduciary account
Where Chevy Chase Trust is the trustee or executor, it already holds the appointment and administers the estate or trust itself, including investment management, distributions to beneficiaries and fiduciary tax filings. Nothing is transferred and no new account is opened.1
Where the firm is agent for an outside executor or trustee, that fiduciary holds the appointment and the firm acts on their instruction once their authority is documented.1
Accounts handled elsewhere1
- Reliance Trust Company
Sub-custodian of client assets; produces the custody statements, taxlot detail and date-of-death valuations1
What Chevy Chase Trust provides to the estate2
- Statement copies
Custody statements, taxlot detail and transaction history are produced by the sub-custodian, Reliance Trust Company, and can be exported from the Wealth Access portal, which holds up to 17 months of transaction history. The Senior Trust Officer provides anything older.1
- Date-of-death balance letter
Date-of-death valuations and cost-basis reporting are produced by Reliance Trust Company and delivered through the firm or the Wealth Access portal.1
What Chevy Chase Trust's agreement and guidance say2
- What it does when notified
Where Chevy Chase Trust is only the investment adviser and custodian, nothing moves until the successor trustee, TOD beneficiary, surviving joint owner or court-appointed personal representative documents their authority.1
Not in Chevy Chase Trust's published guidance7
- A procedure for reporting a death
- A department for deceased-customer accounts
- A claim form
- An online way to report a death
- A fax number for claim documents
- An email address for claim documents
- How long a claim takes
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Chevy Chase Trust Company is a Maryland state-chartered non-depository trust company and states that it "manages and administers trusts and estates -- either as the trustee, executor or as agent for the designated fiduciary." In that role it commits to oversee "virtually every type of asset -- from traditional equity and fixed-income securities to farms and operating businesses," to respond to the beneficiary and family dynamics unique to each estate and trust, and to exercise discretion objectively; the Chief Fiduciary Officer is Jeannette Owen Roegge. The practical difference at death is the hand-off that never has to happen: because the firm already holds the appointment on the account it already manages, no successor trustee has to be located, no new accounts have to be opened, and investment management, distributions to beneficiaries, and fiduciary tax filings continue without interruption. Where the firm is only the adviser and custodian, an outside successor trustee or court-appointed personal representative must document their authority first. Engagement is subject to the $3,000,000 relationship minimum and $35,000 minimum annual fee in Form CRS, and the firm charges different fees for acting as trustee or administrator of an estate -- those schedules are available on request, not published.
Not the firm's own vault. Form ADV Part 2A discloses that clients who elect Chevy Chase Trust as custodian have their assets held through a sub-custodian, Reliance Trust Company, a bank and trust company chartered by the State of Georgia and regulated by the Georgia Department of Banking, at 1100 Abernathy Road NE, Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30328. Reliance settles trades, reconciles positions, produces the client account statements, posts income and corporate actions, issues checks and wires, and files class action claims. Assets sit in a custody account in the name of Reliance for the benefit of Chevy Chase Trust and further credit to the client, and the brochure states that "the assets in a CCTC custody account do not become the assets of RTC but remain the assets of CCTC's respective clients," so Reliance's creditors would have no claim on them. Underneath, the Depository Trust Company holds most securities and BNY Mellon holds Treasuries, foreign securities, physical securities, and certain municipal securities. For an executor this matters in one concrete way: the custody statements, taxlot detail, and date-of-death valuations needed for the estate inventory and for step-up in basis originate with Reliance and are delivered through your Senior Trust Officer or exported from the Wealth Access portal.
No on both counts. Chevy Chase Trust Company is a privately held Maryland corporation and Maryland state-chartered NON-DEPOSITORY trust company -- its own Form CRS says so in those words -- which means it holds no deposit accounts, issues no debit cards, and has no POD claim process. It was established in 1997 and commenced operations in 1999; its Form ADV names Chevy Chase Trust Holdings, LLC as its parent and ASB Capital Management LLC as an affiliate, and B.F. Saul lists it among its affiliated companies. The retail Chevy Chase Bank was a separate institution acquired by Capital One in 2009 and has nothing to do with this firm. For a family settling an estate the practical consequence is that there is no branch to visit and no bank claims department to call: the two offices in Bethesda, Maryland and McLean/Tysons, Virginia are private-client offices seen by appointment, and every estate task routes through the decedent's Senior Trust Officer and the Planning & Fiduciary team.
Chevy Chase Trust's Estate Settlement can be reached by phone at 1-240-497-5000 for questions throughout the claims process.
Sources
Data sourced from Chevy Chase Trust primary sources (17 pages reviewed). How we research.
Chevy Chase Trust death claims support
Estate Settlement
Phone
McLean / Tysons, VA office
Client service line
Hours
Mailing address
Website
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