How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at CU1

Ownership and survivorship features, including a POD payee, are recorded on each individual account in CU1's records. A POD payee on one share account does not carry across to another.¹

Beneficiary or POD payee designations on deposit accounts do not apply to any retirement account. Retirement accounts have separate beneficiary designations.¹

A trust can be named as a beneficiary. CU1 may keep a copy of the trust documentation and may ask persons associated with the trust to sign an indemnification and hold harmless agreement.¹

A trust can be named as an IRA beneficiary.¹

Equal shares are the default: each beneficiary or POD payee's share is "determined by dividing the amount of the funds in the account by the number of beneficiaries/POD payees designated on the account."¹

For unequal shares, the member must ask CU1 to designate a percentage for each beneficiary.¹

For payable-on-death accounts. Completed by the account owner, at a branch. Provided at a branch.²

Completed by the account owner. Sent by the institution on request.²

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For IRAs. Sent by the institution on request.¹

Under the agreement's "Waiver of Testamentary Account Distributions," if state law permits, the member irrevocably waives the right to make testamentary dispositions from any account. The account's ownership and survivorship features control over any inconsistent disposition in a will.¹

If a named beneficiary dies first, it is the member's responsibility to notify CU1 and change the account.¹

CU1 has no duty to inform anyone that they are a beneficiary or POD payee.¹

Share (deposit) accounts can be held in a revocable or irrevocable trust. The agreement defines a trustee as "a fiduciary of a revocable or irrevocable trust, who, like an owner, may take actions, conduct transactions and use accounts, products and services on behalf of the trust."¹

An IRA cannot be retitled to a trust. A trust can only be named as an IRA beneficiary.¹

Completed by the trustees, at a branch. Provided at a branch.³

Completed by the trustees. Sent by the institution on request.³

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Existing share accounts can be retitled into a trust without closing and reopening, provided the certified SSN or EIN matches the first name on the record.¹

For IRS reporting, the name appearing first on the form or in CU1's records generally must match the SSN or EIN certified on behalf of the trust. On request, CU1 may be able to write the full name of the trust on the form or in its records.¹

A single trustee has the same rights as an account owner. Where two or more trustees are named, each trustee acting alone may take actions and conduct transactions for all of them, and CU1 has no duty to notify the other trustees.¹

CU1 may require all trustees to agree before another trustee is added, and a trustee may remove themselves from the account. Administering the account according to the terms of the trust is the trustee's responsibility.¹

A successor trustee can be noted in CU1's records. A successor trustee "may take actions and conduct transactions upon delivering proof satisfactory to us of her or his succession and authority to act as the current trustee of the trust."¹

Until that proof is delivered and verified by CU1, a successor trustee has no rights to the account or to the funds held in the account.¹

Once the account is started and consented to, CU1 "may thereafter refer to and rely exclusively on the MSA" rather than re-reading the trust.¹

Membership still requires maintaining the $5 minimum in a Regular Share savings account.¹