What to do when a First Hawaiian account holder dies

First Hawaiian opens joint accounts as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, "and not as tenants in common or as tenants by the entirety."¹

The surviving depositor may withdraw all of the funds once the bank has written notice of the death.²

A P.O.D. authorization allows only one beneficiary per account and is available only at Hawaii branches. A P.O.D. account at a Guam or CNMI branch is administered as an "in trust for" account.¹

The single named beneficiary is paid the remaining balance. If the beneficiary died before the owner, the authorization ended and the account is paid to the owner's estate; if the beneficiary died after the owner but before payment, the funds go to the beneficiary's estate.²

At Guam and CNMI branches, an "in trust for" account is paid on the death of the last surviving trustee to the living beneficiary, or jointly to the living beneficiaries.²

The successor trustee presents the trust agreement or Certification of Trust with the death certificate, and opens or re-papers the account in the trust's name.²

With no beneficiary, joint owner or trust, the account is an estate asset. The executor or administrator provides Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, or a Hawaii Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property if the estate qualifies.²

The early withdrawal penalty "will not be imposed if the withdrawal is due to the death or mental incompetence of any depositor listed in the account name," so an estate can close a term CD early without the penalty.³

Trust, wealth management and investment accounts²

Trust and investment accounts, in the Wealth Management Group²

Trust and investment accounts, in the Wealth Management Group²

Trust and investment accounts, in the Wealth Management Group²

Mortgages and home equity loans, including successor-in-interest requests²

Auto loans²

A Wealth Management Group service that lists estate settlement and ongoing administration among its services.⁴

When one owner of a joint account dies, the surviving depositors must notify the bank immediately in writing (Deposit Rule 2A(2)).¹

Rule 15 lets the bank apply funds in a joint account to repay the debt of just one owner, "even if the other accountholder(s) deposited all of the funds in the account."¹

Rule 17 lets the bank hold the funds while a dispute over ownership or authority is resolved, and deposit them with a court if it cannot resolve them.¹

Rule 19 says powers of attorney "will ordinarily not be accepted for fiduciary accounts except to the extent that acceptance is required by the Hawaii Uniform Power of Attorney Act."¹

Under Rule 14, a Hawaii or Guam checking account with no customer-initiated transactions for one year is treated as inactive (savings, Money Market Checking and MaxiMizer: three years; CNMI: six months and one year). An account that stays inactive long enough is transferred to the state as unclaimed property.¹