What to do when a Lake Trust account holder dies
Report the death to Lake Trust's Member Services at 1-888-267-7200
After a member of Lake Trust dies, the Member Services manages the transfer of accounts. POD-designated and trust-owned accounts pass directly to beneficiaries. Accounts held solely in the member's name may require probate court documents—Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration—before funds can be released.
Death claim process
To file a claim after an account holder's death, here is what Lake Trust requires:
Filing a claim
- Original or certified copy of the death certificate
- Your government-issued photo ID
- The deceased member's account information
- Letters of Personal Representative, or your trust certificate and trustee ID, if you are acting in that role
- A signed letter of instruction identifying the member, the account number, the date of death, your role, and any outstanding checks that should not be paid
- Original or certified death certificate
- Copy of the claimant's government-issued photo ID
- Letters of Personal Representative, trust documents, or the trust or estate EIN as applicable
Required Documents
- Death certificateAn original or a certified copy.
- Government-issued photo ID for the claimant, from the beneficiary, surviving joint owner, trustee or personal representative
- Letters of Personal Representative from the Michigan probate court, where no payable-on-death, trust or joint ownership applies
- Affidavit of Decedent's Successor (form PC 598), or a Petition and Order for Assignment, in place of Letters, for a small estate
- Trust agreement or Certificate of Trust, and the trustee's ID, where a trust owns or is the beneficiary of the account
- EIN for the estate account or the now-irrevocable trust
- Written notice of the deathThe agreement ties the 10-day check-honoring window and its treatment of powers of attorney and authorized signers to receiving notice.
What happens to each kind of account3
- Payable-on-death account
On a payable-on-death or revocable trust account, beneficiaries cannot withdraw until every person who created the account has died and the beneficiary is then living. Two or more surviving beneficiaries own the account in equal shares, with no right of survivorship between them.1
- Fiduciary account
An account may be opened and maintained by a trustee under a written trust agreement, or by an executor, administrator or conservator under court orders. By opening it, Lake Trust is not acting as trustee and does not monitor or enforce the trust or the letters.1
Accounts handled elsewhere1
- LPL Financial
Brokerage and investment IRA claims, through the member's Financial Life Planning advisor4
What Lake Trust's agreement and guidance say4
- Telling the institution
Lake Trust may continue to honor the member's checks, items and instructions until it knows of the death and has had a reasonable opportunity to act.1
- Payments after the death
Lake Trust may pay or certify checks drawn on or before the date of death for up to 10 days after the death, unless someone claiming an interest in the account orders a stop payment.1
- Debts owed to the institution
Lake Trust may, without prior notice, charge any due and payable debt the member owes it against the account and apply shares and dividends under a statutory lien. This does not reach IRAs and similar tax-deferred accounts, credit card debt, or accounts held only in a representative capacity.1
- Powers of attorney
An authorized signer's authorization "is automatically terminated by the death of the owner," and "a power of attorney continues until your death or the death of the person given the power." Lake Trust may honor their transactions until it has written notice or actual knowledge and a reasonable opportunity to act.1
Payable-on-death and joint-survivorship payouts are usually released within days of Lake Trust receiving the death certificate and claimant ID.
Lake Trust's Member Services can be reached by phone at 1-888-267-7200 and email at laketrust@laketrust.org for questions throughout the claims process.
Sources
Data sourced from Lake Trust primary sources (15 pages reviewed). How we research.
Lake Trust death claims support
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