How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at First Bank (Alaska)

On a POD or in-trust-for account, the owners keep the money for themselves while they live. A named beneficiary has no claim to it until every owner has died.¹

A POD or in-trust-for account names one or more other persons as its beneficiaries.¹

Two or more beneficiaries who survive the last owner take the account in equal shares, with no survivorship between them afterward.¹

Any account owner can revoke the POD or in-trust-for designation at any time before the last owner dies.¹

A beneficiary who dies before every account owner has died loses any interest in the account.¹

If no beneficiary is alive when the last owner dies, the money belongs to that owner's estate.¹

While every owner of a joint account is alive, each owns the money in proportion to what they put in, and spouses are presumed to have put in equal amounts.¹

First Bank may refuse a power of attorney for reasonable cause, and it may ask the agent for an affidavit that the copy is true and the owner is alive.¹

The deposit terms are governed by Alaska law and federal law.¹

An account cannot be transferred without the bank's written consent, and for any change of ownership the bank may close the account and open a new one.¹

A revocable trust account is reported under the grantor's own taxpayer number unless the trust's lawyer tells the bank otherwise. An irrevocable trust needs its own number.¹

Any one trustee can act on the account alone, and the bank may follow one trustee's directions until it gets written notice that the trust was revoked or the trustee changed.¹

The trustee must tell the bank in writing when the trustee changes, and the deposit terms bind every successor trustee.¹

First Bank does not act as trustee and does not look into a trustee's powers or duties. The trustee vouches that the trust is valid and still in force.¹

The trustees personally agree to cover the bank for any loss if their authority does not exist or is misused.¹