What to do when a Global CU account holder dies

Completed by the IRA beneficiary. Sent by the institution on request.¹

A Successor or Personal Representative may only run closing transactions in the deceased person's personal account. Estate business goes through an estate account.²

The surviving owner keeps the funds by right of survivorship, and the member number is eventually retired.²

A joint owner may keep using the debit card and writing checks until the account is closed, and an active account is not closed without the joint owner's knowledge.²

Global attempts to contact each designated beneficiary using the contact details on file, and pays the funds in equal shares. If you believe you are a beneficiary and have not been contacted, call Global.²

A joint owner may move a certificate to another Global account of theirs. Otherwise a certificate can be closed with no early withdrawal penalty.²

Global contacts the beneficiary and mails forms to elect how the funds are paid out and how tax is withheld.²

On Form 2306T a beneficiary taking a death withdrawal ticks box 13 and signs on the IRA owner's signature line, and the withdrawal is coded IRS code 4. The form also offers a direct transfer to an IRA in the deceased owner's name for the beneficiary.¹

Global contacts the beneficiary and mails forms to elect how the funds are paid out and how tax is withheld.²

An Operations Support Specialist reads the trust agreement, certification of trust and amendments to decide whether the existing account is updated or a new one is opened.²

An estate account is opened at a branch, and the deceased person must have been a Global member at the time of death. It may have at most two Personal Representatives as signatories.^{2, 3}

Global recommends a Personal Representative deposit checks payable to the deceased person into an estate account, and can issue a replacement check to guarantee payment on a check drawn on a Global account.²

If Payment Protection covered the loan, Global files the claim once it receives the death certificate. A secured loan can be paid off, refinanced by whoever wants the collateral, or sold by the estate, or the collateral surrendered; unsecured debt falls to the co-borrower, or to the estate.²

A paid-off title is released only to a person named on it or legally authorized for the estate. A line of credit with a co-applicant can stay open pending review, the balance becoming theirs, if they hold a primary member account and give a death certificate; otherwise it is closed.²

The Visa credit card is closed if the deceased person was the primary cardholder; it stays open if there is a co-applicant. An authorized user may not keep using the card and should destroy or return it.²

An Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend direct deposit for the deceased person is not accepted. The Successor or Personal Representative claims it from the PFD division (907-465-2326, pfd.alaska.gov).²

A deceased member's investments (securities through LPL Financial)²

Mortgage and real estate loans, reviewed case by case; tell it whether you will keep or sell the property²

Global does not accept a will to settle an account: the will goes to probate court, which appoints a Personal Representative. Where there is no probate, a Successor completing the small estate affidavit of the deceased person's state can settle the accounts.²

Global does not accept a power of attorney, because it terminates at the grantor's death.²

Global discusses account details only with a joint owner, an account signer, or someone legally authorized to act for the estate. A Personal Representative must provide the Letters before Global releases any account information.²

With no joint owner, automatic withdrawals are restricted and online access is discontinued.²

Global may place a hold on the account until it knows the identity of the successor.³

Section 12.6 (Death or Incapacity) lets Global pay or certify checks drawn on or before the date of death for up to ten days after the death, unless someone claiming an interest in the account orders a stop payment.³

Global "may require anyone claiming funds from an account of a deceased owner to indemnify us for any losses resulting from our honoring that claim."³

Federal benefit direct deposits (Social Security, VA) received after the date of death are returned to the paying agency.²

Checks payable to the deceased person "should be reissued in the name and capacity of the successor." If one cannot be, a Successor who is a member can deposit it once documentation is on file, and a non-member Successor can negotiate one drawn on a Global account with the legal documents.²

Section 12.6 covers "Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, pension, salary, and other such payments payable to the deceased" deposited after the death.³