What to do when a First Community CU account holder dies

POD beneficiaries are added in branch at any of First Community's 27 locations, by phone at 1-800-850-7676, or by mail — there is no online beneficiary screen in FCCU Online and no downloadable form, so the credit union sends or hands you the designation form. You will need each beneficiary's full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, and relationship to you, and percentage allocations must total 100%. Under the North Dakota Uniform Probate Code (NDCC 30.1-31), a POD designation passes the funds directly to the named beneficiaries at death, outside probate. POD is available on checking, savings, money market, and certificate accounts, including each Add-A-Buck and Maximizer Flex CD separately. IRAs use their own beneficiary designation form.

Joint accounts with right of survivorship pass to the surviving joint owner, who keeps using the account. Single-owner accounts with a POD designation are closed and paid directly to the named beneficiaries. Single-owner accounts with no POD are paid to the estate, and the personal representative must present Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration. IRAs and the HSA pay under their own beneficiary designation. Because FCCU is member-owned, the $5 par-value share account that established your membership is closed with the rest of the relationship, and any FCCU loan or credit card balance is settled before funds are released. NCUA share insurance continues to cover the accounts as if you were living for six months after death. Start the claim by calling 1-800-850-7676 or bringing a certified death certificate to a branch.

Often, yes. North Dakota allows collection of a decedent's personal property — including credit union deposits — by affidavit once at least 30 days have passed since death, when the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000 (N.D.C.C. § 30.1-23-01). Present the completed affidavit with a certified death certificate and your photo ID at a branch, and no Letters from the probate court are needed. Above that amount, or where the credit union requires it, the personal representative must present Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration. Note that Minnesota-resident members (Crookston, East Grand Forks, Moorhead) are governed by Minnesota's own small-estate rules instead.

Both pass by beneficiary designation, not by POD and not by your will. First Community's Traditional and Roth IRAs let you name a person or a trust as beneficiary, and the IRA form — not the deposit-account signature paperwork — controls. The HSA also takes a named beneficiary but cannot be retitled into a trust; if your spouse is the named HSA beneficiary, the account stays an HSA in the spouse's hands, while a non-spouse beneficiary receives it as taxable income in the year of death. Review both designations whenever your estate plan changes, because an outdated form overrides the will.