Estate planning options at FirstBank (Tennessee)
There are two ways to keep your FirstBank (Tennessee) accounts out of probate: adding beneficiary designations and retitling eligible accounts into a revocable living trust. Which approach works best depends on the account type and your overall estate plan.
FirstBank (Tennessee) has 23 accounts with different estate transfer rules. Here is how beneficiary designations, trust ownership, and probate apply to each one.
No beneficiary form at FirstBank (Tennessee)
What FirstBank (Tennessee) says about beneficiaries and trusts
Each section is FirstBank (Tennessee)'s own statement, with the document it comes from numbered under Sources.
Which accounts take a beneficiary1
- Payable-on-death account
Under the Tennessee and Georgia terms, beneficiaries cannot withdraw until everyone who created the account has died, and only a beneficiary then living takes. The Kentucky terms add that any required release-of-funds procedures must be completed.1
Under the Alabama terms, at the death of the party to a single-party account with a pay-on-death designation, ownership passes to the designated pay-on-death beneficiaries and is not part of the party's estate.1
How many beneficiaries, and how shares are split
- All accounts
Under the Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky terms, two or more beneficiaries who survive everyone who created the account own it in equal shares, without right of survivorship.1
What FirstBank (Tennessee)'s agreement says about beneficiaries6
- What the owner keeps while living
The person or persons who create a Revocable Trust or Pay-On-Death Account may change beneficiaries, change account types and withdraw all or part of the funds at any time.1
- Joint accounts
Under the Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky terms, when two or more people create a Revocable Trust or Pay-On-Death Account they own it jointly with survivorship, and the beneficiaries take only after all of them die.1
- Claims against the account
A pledge of the account must be satisfied before the rights of any surviving owner or beneficiary take effect.1
- Powers of attorney over a living owner's account
An additional authorized signatory (Tennessee) or authorized signer (Georgia) on an individual account cannot affect the rights of the owner or beneficiaries except by withdrawing funds, and the authority ends at the owner's death.1
- Which state governs the account
The agreement is subject to federal law and the laws of Tennessee, and each state-labelled provision applies only to an account held at a branch in that state.1
- The institution's right to refuse a designation or an account title
FirstBank makes no representation about the appropriateness or effect of an ownership or beneficiary designation, except as it determines whom the bank pays.1
Which accounts a trust can hold1
- Trust account
An account may be opened and maintained by a trustee under a written trust agreement. FirstBank is not responsible for the trustee's actions, including misuse of funds.1
What FirstBank (Tennessee) says about trust accounts3
- Changing the owner of a policy or account
The account may not be transferred or assigned without FirstBank's prior written consent.1
- Review of the trust document
By merely opening a trust account FirstBank is not acting as a trustee and takes on no obligation to monitor or enforce the terms of the trust.1
- Certificates moved into a trust
FirstBank may impose an early withdrawal penalty on a time account even when the owner does not start the withdrawal, and may close the account and apply the penalty to the whole balance after a partial early withdrawal.1
Accounts handled elsewhere2
- FirstBank Trust Services
Revocable living trusts, testamentary trusts, other personal trusts, estate settlement and estate planning2
Phone: 1-615-236-8368
Email: trust@firstbankonline.com
- FirstBank Investment Partners (through Raymond James)
Brokerage accounts, including transfer on death and trust brokerage accounts, by appointment at FirstBank branches3
Not in FirstBank (Tennessee)'s published guidance8
- What the owner provides to name a beneficiary
- A beneficiary designation form
- An online way to name a beneficiary
- What a designation takes to be effective
- Which trust documents it accepts
- A trust account form
- A procedure for holding an account in a trust
- How long a change takes
Sources
(2)·
Data sourced from FirstBank (Tennessee) primary sources (28 pages reviewed). How we research.
Download these FirstBank (Tennessee) instructions
A printable PDF with the steps, required documents, and contact details, verified against FirstBank (Tennessee) primary sources. Bring it to the branch or keep it beside the phone.
FirstBank (Tennessee) estate support
Trust Services
Phone
Middle Tennessee Trust Office (Franklin)
East Tennessee Office (Knoxville)
Office
Website
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