Estate planning at Lake Trust
How to protect 26 Lake Trust accounts — manage beneficiaries in-branch, fund a trust in-branch, and file claims through Lake Trust's Member Services / Financial Life Planning
Contact Center
Lake Trust Credit Union, 4605 S. Old US Highway 23, Brighton, MI 48114
Member Services / Financial Life Planning
Lake Trust Credit Union, 4605 S. Old US Highway 23, Brighton, MI 48114
Member Services
Lake Trust Credit Union, 4605 S. Old US Highway 23, Brighton, MI 48114
How your Lake Trust accounts transfer at death depends on how each one is set up. As a membership-based credit union, Lake Trust michigan only. Corporate headquarters at 4605 S. Old US Highway 23, Brighton, MI 48114; branches, video teller machines, and ATMs across the state (https://laketrust.org/locations). Participates in the Co-op shared-branch network, so an out-of-state heir who is already a Lake Trust member can transact at a participating credit union, but estate documents still go to Lake Trust in Michigan. Note the Brighton address is the correspondence address; loan payments go to a separate Chicago lockbox (PO Box 75806, Chicago, IL 60675-5806) and should not be used for estate paperwork. With 26 account types, the transfer rules vary—getting the right designations in place now prevents delays and court involvement later.
Managing beneficiaries at Lake Trust is straightforward—changes can be made in branch, by mail, and by phone, typically taking 15-30 minutes in branch; 1-2 weeks by mail. Trust funding is also available, allowing families to retitle accounts into the name of a revocable living trust.
Lake Trust provides specific procedures for both proactive estate planning and filing claims after a death.
Preparing your estate
Beneficiaries and trust funding
How to update beneficiaries in-branch, fund a trust in-branch, and review 26 account types at Lake Trust.
View details →When someone dies
Death claim process
Contact Lake Trust's Member Services / Financial Life Planning to file a claim. 7-step process, 7 required documents, and contact information for survivors.
View details →Lake Trust's Member Services / Financial Life Planning can answer questions about beneficiaries, trusts, or death claims at 888.267.7200. Email inquiries can be sent to laketrust@laketrust.org.
Lake Trust operates in select states, so estate planning procedures may vary by location. Confirm availability in your state before initiating trust funding or account changes.
Frequently asked questions
No. Lake Trust Legacy is a member-priced estate planning portal delivered by Legal Karma at https://estateplanning.laketrust.org/ — Lake Trust is not a law firm and does not draft the documents. Members answer a questionnaire, get documents back for review within 3-5 business days, and can edit their plan for 30 days after purchase (the Trust Package includes two revision rounds). Completed documents are printed at home and can be notarized free at any Lake Trust branch, which is the genuinely useful part: notarization and witnessing are where most self-prepared Michigan estate documents fail. A dedicated support line for Lake Trust members, in English and Spanish, is 517.759.7143. Note that a document created through the portal is only funded once you actually retitle your Lake Trust accounts into the trust.
Sources
Data sourced from Lake Trust primary sources (17 pages reviewed). How we research.
Contact Center
Lake Trust Credit Union, 4605 S. Old US Highway 23, Brighton, MI 48114
Member Services / Financial Life Planning
Lake Trust Credit Union, 4605 S. Old US Highway 23, Brighton, MI 48114
Member Services
Lake Trust Credit Union, 4605 S. Old US Highway 23, Brighton, MI 48114
Estate planning articles
Learn how to protect your Lake Trust accounts and other assets with trusts, beneficiary designations, and estate planning documents.
