Estate planning and settlement at First Community CU (OR)

How your First Community CU (OR) accounts transfer at death depends on how each one is set up. As a membership-based credit union, First Community CU (OR) membership is open to anyone who lives or works in the credit union's 28 serviced Oregon counties: Clackamas, Coos, Crook, Curry, Deschutes, Douglas, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River, Jackson, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Morrow, Multnomah, Polk, Sherman, Umatilla, Wasco, Washington, Wheeler, and Yamhill, and to immediate family of someone eligible. 29 branches throughout Oregon plus an ATM-only site in Cave Junction, headquartered in Coquille. Every location is in Oregon, so Oregon law governs the accounts: ORS chapter 723 supplies the credit-union rules for payable-on-death accounts, joint accounts, and payment of a deceased member's deposit, and Oregon's Simple Estate Affidavit (ORS 114.505 to 114.560) is the small-estate route survivors use with the credit union. With 13 account types, the transfer rules vary—getting the right designations in place now prevents delays and court involvement later.

First Community CU (OR) handles beneficiary designations in branch, by phone, and by mail. Accounts can also be retitled into a trust to keep them out of probate entirely.