What to do when a Great Plains Bank account holder dies

Usually, but South Dakota attaches a condition that catches families off guard. Under S.D. Codified Laws 29A-3-1201, 30 days after the death a bank must pay a deceased person's account to a claiming successor who presents an affidavit swearing to five things: the entire estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000; 30 days have elapsed since the death; no petition to appoint a personal representative is pending or has been granted anywhere; the claiming successor is entitled to the property; and -- the trap -- that the decedent incurred no indebtedness to the South Dakota Department of Social Services for medical assistance for nursing home or other medical institutional care. If the decedent had Medicaid-funded nursing home care, that affidavit cannot truthfully be signed and the account must be settled through probate with Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration instead. The affidavit can be notarized at the branch, which offers Notary Public service.

No to both. Great Plains Bank is a roughly $151 million community bank with three deposit branches, and it will hold accounts titled in the name of a trust, but it does not act as trustee, administer trusts, or manage investments -- a corporate trustee has to come from an outside trust company or attorney. There is likewise no central estate or death-claim department and no 800 number routing to one. The branch that holds the account settles it, and the named customer service contact at the Aberdeen main office is the Customer Service Manager, Susan Schaible-Heiser (listed at https://www.greatplainsbank.com/contact-us/). In practice that means an executor deals with one banker at one small office rather than a claims call center, and should call that branch first to learn exactly which documents it wants before mailing anything.

They pass by beneficiary designation only. Great Plains Bank's Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, and Coverdell Education Savings Account are all CD-based and each carries its own beneficiary form, separate from any POD designation on a checking or savings account. Whatever is on that form controls -- a will or a trust does not override it, and the funds do not become part of the probate estate. The named beneficiary brings a certified death certificate and photo ID to the branch and completes the IRA claim and distribution-election paperwork there; the bank does not publish those forms for download. A trust can be named as an IRA beneficiary, though naming one can compress the payout timetable for the people behind the trust, so the designation is worth reviewing with a tax advisor before it is filed.