How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at East West Bank

An IRA beneficiary is named on a separate IRA beneficiary designation form, not the POD form.¹

Beneficiaries are named as primary or contingent, with percentage allocations totaling 100%.¹

For payable-on-death accounts. Completed by the account owner, at a branch. Provided at a branch.¹

For IRAs. Completed by the account owner, at a branch. Provided at a branch.¹

Named beneficiaries override the owner's will, with one state-specific exception in the agreement for New York "Totten Trust" accounts.²

The agreement says "You must clearly indicate on your signature card the exact account ownership you desire," and that the bank "may rely solely on our account records to determine the ownership of your account." The account records, not the owner's will, decide who is paid.²

The agreement says "The type of account ownership you select may determine how the property is passed on after the death of one or more of the account owners."²

Community property ownership "must be clearly stated on the signature card; otherwise, the account will be considered a joint tenancy account," which passes outright to the survivor instead of sending half to the deceased spouse's estate.²

For a New York "Totten Trust" account, the beneficiary takes on the trustee's death "Unless the trustee expressly revokes, terminates, or modifies the trust account in the trustee's will."²

A documented trust (a written trust with a signed agreement) is a different account type from the informal "In Trust", Totten or POD account. An account retitled into a revocable trust follows the Documented Trust Account rules, not the POD rules.²

Under the agreement's Documented Trust Account terms, trustees certify that they are the only current trustees, that they are authorized to enter into agreements with the bank for the trust, and that no other person's authorization or court order is required for their instructions.²

The bank writes that it "will not be required to know, understand, interpret or enforce the terms of any trust documentation that may be provided to us."²

The bank asks for reasonable advance notice of any amendment, any change in trustees or beneficiaries, and any other event affecting authority over the account, so a successor-trustee change has to be brought to the bank, not just made in the trust document.²

Trust and estate planning consultations through multilingual Financial Consultants³

Investment and insurance products offered through East West Bank³