Estate planning and settlement at Firefighters First

How your Firefighters First accounts transfer at death depends on how each one is set up. As a membership-based credit union, Firefighters First fifteen branches in six states -- nine of them in California, with the Pasadena branch at 1520 W Colorado Blvd doubling as the credit union's headquarters (NCUA charter 24877). MEMBERSHIP ELIGIBILITY IS A SEPARATE FACT and is effectively nationwide: membership is open to new, active and retired firefighters, fire department employees, staff of nonprofits that support firefighters, people receiving pensions from any of those groups, and their immediate family (spouses, children, stepchildren, adopted children, parents, stepparents, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren), and it does not expire once enrolled. The credit union states its members live across all 50 states. Neither that eligibility nor CO-OP shared-branch and ATM access -- which are other credit unions' counters -- widens the branch footprint above. With 25 account types, the transfer rules vary—getting the right designations in place now prevents delays and court involvement later.

Firefighters First lets account holders update beneficiary designations in branch, by phone, and by mail. Trust funding is also available, allowing families to retitle accounts into the name of a revocable living trust.