What to do when a Grow Financial account holder dies

For up to ten days after death, yes. Section 28 of Grow's Universal Account Agreement says the credit union may continue honoring transactions until it is notified of the death and given satisfactory evidence of it -- and that even once properly notified, "we may pay checks or honor other payments or transfer orders authorized by the member for a period of ten (10) days after the date of death unless we receive instructions from any person claiming an interest in the account to stop payment." If a check the decedent wrote should not clear, say so in writing when you deliver the death certificate. Grow may also debit the account and return post-death deposits of salary, pension, Social Security, or SSI that were payable to the decedent, and dividends paid after the date of death may be reversed.

No. Grow's Universal Account Agreement (section 28) states that deposits made payable to, or in the name of, a deceased member "will not be accepted" and "must be negotiated through an estate account at another financial institution." So a final paycheck, tax refund, or insurance check written to the decedent cannot be run through their Grow account -- the personal representative needs an estate account elsewhere, which in turn means getting Letters (or, in Florida, a court order in summary administration) before those checks can be cashed at all.

The money goes to probate. Grow's Universal Account Agreement (section 2(g)) provides that if all named POD beneficiaries predecease the account owner, "the applicable funds shall be paid to the estate of the last surviving account owner." While at least one beneficiary is alive, a predeceased beneficiary's share is split equally among the remaining living beneficiaries, and if you never stated percentages the beneficiaries take equal shares. Naming contingent beneficiaries is what keeps a Grow deposit account out of Florida or South Carolina probate. Note also that Grow's POD designation does not reach an IRA, IRA Certificate, or HSA -- each carries its own beneficiary designation.

In both of Grow's states, but on different terms. In FLORIDA, Fla. Stat. 735.303 lets a financial institution pay a family member -- the surviving spouse, or if none, an adult child, then an adult descendant, then a parent -- when the decedent's combined accounts at that institution total $2,000 or less, no earlier than six months after death, on a certified death certificate plus a sworn affidavit that no probate proceeding has begun. Above that, the estate uses disposition without administration (Fla. Stat. 735.301, for exempt property plus non-exempt personal property not exceeding funeral and last-illness expenses) or summary administration (Fla. Stat. 735.201, estate subject to administration of $150,000 or less, or death more than two years ago). In SOUTH CAROLINA, a small estate affidavit under S.C. Code 62-3-1201 covers a probate estate of $45,000 or less (raised from $25,000 effective May 8, 2025), filed at least 30 days after death -- and it must be approved and countersigned by the probate judge of the decedent's county before Grow will act on it. An account with a POD beneficiary, a surviving joint owner, or a trust title skips all of this.