What to do when a Greylock FCU account holder dies

That beneficiary's share goes to THEIR estate -- not to your surviving beneficiaries. Greylock's Member Service Agreement is explicit: if a POD payee on an account with multiple payees dies before the owner, "the deceased beneficiary's/POD payee's share of the funds in the account will go to her or his estate and not to any other beneficiary/POD payee on the account" (Provision 4.a). If the sole POD payee predeceases you, the entire balance goes to that payee's estate on your death. Greylock also has no duty to tell your payees they were named, and it is the member's responsibility to update the designation after a beneficiary dies. A stale Greylock POD designation therefore routes money into a second probate -- review it after any death in the family.

A certified death certificate, ID, and possibly an indemnification. Under Provision 25 of the Member Service Agreement (https://www.greylock.org/content/docs/MemberServiceAgreement.pdf), Greylock may continue honoring transactions on the account until it receives a certified copy of the death certificate. Before it releases funds it may require the claimant's photo ID, SSN, date of birth, physical address, and even a second form of ID or a thumbprint, plus proof of authority -- and it "may require a representative of an owner's estate or claimant to indemnify, defend us against and hold us harmless before we will release the funds." Greylock generally pays by issuing its check to the estate, and if entitlement is disputed it may hold the funds or deposit them with a court instead. Money the member owed Greylock is repaid first. Report the death at 413-236-4000 or 1-800-207-5555, available 24/7.

Yes, through Voluntary Administration. Massachusetts allows it when the decedent's estate is entirely personal property valued at $25,000 or less, excluding one motor vehicle, and no personal representative has been appointed (M.G.L. c.190B sec. 3-1201). An interested person files a Voluntary Administration statement (Probate and Family Court Form MPC 170) no earlier than 30 days after death; see https://www.mass.gov/info-details/mupc-estate-administration-procedural-guide-voluntary-administration. For a Pittsfield-area member the filing goes to the Berkshire Probate and Family Court, 44 Bank Row, Pittsfield, MA 01201 (Register's Office 413-442-6941). Bring the court-attested statement, the certified death certificate, and your photo ID to any Greylock branch, or mail them to Greylock Federal Credit Union, 150 West St, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Above $25,000, an account with no POD payee, joint owner, or trust title needs Letters from the court.

By proving succession to Greylock first. Provision 4.h of the Member Service Agreement says a successor trustee "may take actions and conduct transactions upon delivering proof satisfactory to us of her or his succession and authority to act as the current trustee," and that "until such proof is delivered and verified by us, a successor trustee has no rights to the account or to the funds held in the account." Bring the trust agreement or Certificate of Trust, the certified death certificate, and photo ID to a branch; Greylock may also require anyone associated with the trust -- grantors, trustees, successor trustees, or beneficiaries -- to sign an indemnification and hold-harmless agreement. Greylock IRAs cannot be retitled to a trust, so an inherited Greylock IRA follows its own beneficiary designation instead. If you are settling an estate rather than a trust, Greylock also opens accounts for a fiduciary purpose (Provision 4.i), which is where estate funds can be collected.