How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at Discover
Beneficiaries are managed online, by phone or by mail. Trust paperwork is taken by phone or by mail
Discover is now part of Capital OneAcquired, effective May 2025
Discover Bank merged into Capital One, N.A. on May 18, 2025 and now trades as "Discover, a division of Capital One, N.A." Re-verified 2026-09-11: the Discover brand is still SERVICED, not absorbed, for estate purposes. Discover.com still publishes its own Deposit Account Agreement (rev BK.DBATAGT.L.0126, (c)2026, with change notices effective May 17, 2026 and October 8, 2026), its own Forms and Documents feed, its own Secure Document Upload portal, and its own Beneficiary Care Team at 1-800-975-0162 -- and capitalone.com/help-center/discover-faqs/ tells Discover customers "For Discover accounts, please continue to contact Discover." What HAS gone is new business: every discover.com deposit product and application page 301-redirects to capitalone.com, and bank.discover.com/ now 301s to www.discover.com/online-banking/. Deposits became jointly FDIC-insured with Capital One on November 18, 2025, and savings accounts are migrating to Capital One 360 Performance Savings on a rolling per-customer schedule (same account number, new routing number, notice sent by email or letter before the move). So an executor today may find the decedent held a still-Discover account, an already-migrated Capital One 360 account, or both. Routing splits accordingly: Discover-branded deposit accounts to the Discover Beneficiary Care Team (1-800-975-0162), any Capital One product to Capital One's Estates Servicing Team (1-877-357-5659), and a Discover credit card to Discover's Deceased Account Services Specialists (1-800-347-5519).
Estate planning for your Discover accounts starts with understanding how each one transfers at death. Beneficiary designations and trust retitling both bypass probate, but the right approach depends on the account type, your tax situation, and how much control you want over distributions.
Discover offers 7 accounts, each with its own transfer rules. The sections below cover how to set up beneficiaries, fund a trust, and which products support each approach.
Beneficiary form at Discover
IRA Designation or Change of Beneficiary Form for Traditional, Roth, and SIMPLE IRAs (for IRAs).
Open the form →- Add primary and contingent beneficiaries
- Provide each beneficiary's full legal name, date of birth, and Social Security number
- Name only natural persons; a trust cannot be a POD beneficiary at Discover
- Set whole-number percentages totalling 100%, or leave them blank for equal shares
- Full legal name, date of birth, and Social Security number for each beneficiary
- Ask for the IRA Designation or Change of Beneficiary Form to be sent if the account is an IRA; IRA beneficiaries cannot be changed online
- Section 1: IRA owner information plus the IRA account (plan) number and type of IRA
- Section 2: primary and contingent beneficiaries with SSN or TIN, relationship, date of birth, and address; percentages per class must total 100%
- To name a trust, enter the trust as the beneficiary; Discover will look to the Trust Certification Form for the trustees' authority over the IRA interest
- Section 3: initial either "I Am Married" or "I Am Not Married."
- If married and the primary beneficiary is not your spouse, your spouse must sign the consent (a witness signature may be required, and the witness cannot be a beneficiary of the IRA)
- Section 4: sign and date as IRA owner
Required Documents
- Beneficiary's full legal name (for each primary and contingent beneficiary)
- Beneficiary's date of birth (for each beneficiary)
- Beneficiary's Social Security number (for each beneficiary)
- IRA owner information, the IRA plan number and the type of IRA (for an IRA, in Section 1 of the form)
- Each beneficiary's SSN or TIN, relationship, date of birth and address (for an IRA, in Section 2 of the form)
- IRA Designation or Change of Beneficiary Form, completed and signed (for an IRA)
- Trust Certification Form from the Forms and Documents page
- Formal Trust Account Application: request it from the Documentation Specialists on 1-866-515-5283
- Have all trustee signatures notarized with separate notary acknowledgments for each trustee
- Include government-issued ID copies for all trustees
- Provide Trust Employer Identification Number (EIN)
- Upload at Secure Document Upload (select "Trust Application & Trust Certification Form")
- Upload one file at a time, all pages in a single file, up to 7MB, in .gif, .tif, .jpg, .png, .bmp, .doc, .docx or .pdf format
- Or fax to the Documentation Specialists at 1-224-813-5189
- Or mail to Discover, PO Box 30416, Salt Lake City, UT 84130
- Or send via overnight mail to Discover, 5420 West 1730 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104
Required Documents
- Formal Trust Account Application, completed. Requested from the Documentation Specialists. Section 1 of the Trustee Certification must match Section 1 of the application
- Trust Certification Form (Trustee Certification), completed and notarized. Discover's own form, rev. 09.2025. It does not accept a generic Certificate of Trust in place of it, though it may ask for excerpts from the trust document
- Government-issued ID (for all trustees)
- Taxpayer identification number of the trust (SSN or EIN). If an SSN is used, the owner of that SSN must be an acting trustee. The number given is what Discover uses for IRS tax reporting
- Full title of the trust, including the trust date. Exactly as it appears in the trust documents
- Street address for the trust. A separate mailing address may be given
- Names of the persons holding the power to revoke (if the trust is revocable)
- Names of the trustors or grantors. The grantor must be an acting trustee unless the trust is irrevocable
- Signed Letter of Instruction marked "Trust or Trustee Maintenance" (with a new Trust Certification Form, for a trustee change on an existing trust account). Signed in ink, with a street address
- Add primary and contingent beneficiaries
- Provide each beneficiary's full legal name, date of birth, and Social Security number
- Name only natural persons; a trust cannot be a POD beneficiary at Discover
- Set whole-number percentages totalling 100%, or leave them blank for equal shares
- Full legal name, date of birth, and Social Security number for each beneficiary
- Ask for the IRA Designation or Change of Beneficiary Form to be sent if the account is an IRA; IRA beneficiaries cannot be changed online
- Section 1: IRA owner information plus the IRA account (plan) number and type of IRA
- Section 2: primary and contingent beneficiaries with SSN or TIN, relationship, date of birth, and address; percentages per class must total 100%
- To name a trust, enter the trust as the beneficiary; Discover will look to the Trust Certification Form for the trustees' authority over the IRA interest
- Section 3: initial either "I Am Married" or "I Am Not Married."
- If married and the primary beneficiary is not your spouse, your spouse must sign the consent (a witness signature may be required, and the witness cannot be a beneficiary of the IRA)
- Section 4: sign and date as IRA owner
Required Documents
- Beneficiary's full legal name (for each primary and contingent beneficiary)
- Beneficiary's date of birth (for each beneficiary)
- Beneficiary's Social Security number (for each beneficiary)
- IRA owner information, the IRA plan number and the type of IRA (for an IRA, in Section 1 of the form)
- Each beneficiary's SSN or TIN, relationship, date of birth and address (for an IRA, in Section 2 of the form)
- IRA Designation or Change of Beneficiary Form, completed and signed (for an IRA)
What Discover says about beneficiaries and trusts
Each section is Discover's own statement, with the document it comes from numbered under Sources.
Which accounts take a beneficiary3
- Payable-on-death account
POD (payable-on-death) designations on checking, savings, money market and non-IRA CD accounts are added or updated online on the Manage Beneficiaries page.1
- IRA
IRA beneficiaries cannot be changed online. They are named on the IRA Designation or Change of Beneficiary Form, a different form sent to a different box from deposit-account mail.2
- Joint account with survivorship
Discover offers joint accounts only as joint tenancy with right of survivorship: "We do not offer any other type of joint Account (i.e., tenants in common or tenants by the entirety)."1
Who can be named4
- A person, payable-on-death accounts
A POD beneficiary on a Discover deposit account must be a natural person. The Deposit Account Agreement defines a POD account as one "established by one or more natural persons naming one or more natural persons as beneficiaries."3
- A trust, payable-on-death accounts
A trust cannot be named POD beneficiary on a Discover deposit account.3
- A business, payable-on-death accounts
A corporation or association cannot be named POD beneficiary on a Discover deposit account.3
- A charity or nonprofit, payable-on-death accounts
A charity cannot be named POD beneficiary on a Discover deposit account.3
- A trust, IRAs
A trust can be named beneficiary of an IRA by entering the trust as the beneficiary on the form. Discover looks to the Trust Certification Form for the trustees' authority over the IRA interest.2
How many beneficiaries, and how shares are split
- Payable-on-death account
Primary and contingent beneficiaries can be named. Shares are whole-number percentages, such as 5% or 10%, totalling 100%; if they are not customized, beneficiaries share equally.1
With 3 or 6 beneficiaries, Discover states some beneficiaries receive a fractional percentage more so the shares total 100%.1
- IRA
The IRA form lists primary and contingent beneficiaries, and the percentages in each class must total 100%.2
What a designation takes to be effective
- IRA
If the IRA owner is married and names a primary beneficiary other than the spouse, the spouse must sign the consent in Section 3. A witness signature may be required, and the witness cannot be a beneficiary of the IRA.2
The IRA owner initials Section 3 as married or not married, and signs and dates the form in Section 4.2
Beneficiary forms Discover issues1
- IRA Designation or Change of Beneficiary Form for Traditional, Roth, and SIMPLE IRAs
For IRAs. Completed by the IRA owner. Available to download.2
Return to
Fax: 1-224-813-5227
Mailing address: Discover, PO Box 30418, Salt Lake City, UT 84130
What Discover's agreement says about beneficiaries4
- A beneficiary who dies first
If a designated beneficiary dies before the owner, that share is redistributed pro rata among the surviving beneficiaries.1
- No beneficiary survives
If no beneficiary survives the account owners, title to the account vests in the estate of the last surviving owner.1
Under the IRA form, if no beneficiary survives or none is designated, the IRA is paid to the owner's estate.2
- Joint accounts
A beneficiary takes only if living when all account owners are deceased. On a joint account the balance first passes by right of survivorship to the surviving owner.1
- Changing or revoking a designation
On the IRA form, a new designation "revokes and supercedes all earlier beneficiary designations which may apply to this IRA."2
Which accounts a trust can hold1
- Trust account
A formal trust account at Discover can be only a Money Market Account or a Non-IRA CD. Checking and savings cannot be titled to a trust at Discover.3
Trust account forms Discover issues3
- Trust Certification Form (titled "Trustee Certification" on the form itself)
Completed by the trustees, each with a separate notary acknowledgment. Available to download. Must be notarized.4
Return to
Fax: 1-224-813-5189
Mailing address: Discover, PO Box 30416, Salt Lake City, UT 84130
- Formal Trust Account Application
Completed by the trustees. Sent by the institution on request.4
Return to
Fax: 1-224-813-5189
Mailing address: Discover, PO Box 30416, Salt Lake City, UT 84130
- Signed Letter of Instruction
Available to download.5
Return to
Fax: 1-224-813-5189
Mailing address: Discover, P.O. Box 30416, Salt Lake City, UT 84130
What Discover says about trust accounts5
- Who signs for the trust
Trust documents must permit each trustee to act individually without the consent of the other trustees, or the trustees must consent to each acting individually.4
Every trustee seeking to transact on the accounts, or make IRA elections, must complete a separate notary acknowledgment, signing in blue or black ink in the presence of a notary.4
Discover "may request additional documentation showing who is authorized to act pertaining to an individual, trust, estate, or other entity."5
- Successor trustees
Successor trustees are named on the certification but are not required to sign at setup.4
Trustee changes on an existing trust account run through the Signed Letter of Instruction, whose Section 1 lists "Trust or Trustee Maintenance (for Deposit Accounts for a Formal Trust)."5
- Review of the trust document
Discover does not review the trust document even if a copy is provided; it relies solely on the Trustee Certification, which supersedes all prior ones for that trust. Trustees give a new one whenever its representations change, and until then Discover may rely on the one on file.4
The trustees certify that the trust is not a statutory business trust under Delaware law (or as similarly defined in other states) requiring registration with a state, and, for a trust under a will, that the grantor is deceased and the will has been probated.4
The Deposit Account Agreement says "There are certain types of Trusts that we do not support."3
- The trust's tax identification number
The certification takes an SSN or an EIN. If an SSN is used, the owner of that SSN must be an acting trustee.4
- Which state governs the account
The account "is being opened in and is located in Delaware," at the Discover retail banking office in Greenwood, Delaware, and "Except where noted, your Account and this Agreement are governed by Virginia and Federal law."3
Not in Discover's published guidance1
- Downloadable Formal Trust Account Application
Sources6
- 1.Manage Beneficiaries
- 2.IRA Designation or Change of Beneficiary Form, form code IRACMBCNGLAZ 3/1/2014
- 3.Deposit Account Agreement, rev BK.DBATAGT.L.0126
- 4.Trustee Certification, rev. 09.2025
- 5.Signed Letter of Instruction
- 6.Secure Document Upload
Sources
Data sourced from Discover primary sources (15 pages reviewed). How we research.
Download these Discover instructions
Download instructions for the whole estateA printable PDF with the steps, required documents, and contact details — verified against Discover primary sources. Bring it to the branch or keep it beside the phone.
Discover estate support
Documentation Specialists (trust and trustee maintenance, court orders, guardian/conservator)
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