What to do when a Lake Trust account holder dies
Contact Lake Trust's Member Services / Financial Life Planning — 7-step process, 7 required documents, and pod and joint-survivorship payouts are usually released within days of lake trust receiving the death certificate and claimant id. estate accounts wait on the michigan probate court — letters of personal representative (or a pc 598 affidavit, which cannot be used until 28 days after death) are the gating item, so several weeks is normal.
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
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.
Lake Trust provides an online portal for initiating death claims, which can simplify the initial notification and document submission process. Claims can also be started by phone or by mailing the required documents.
Death claim process
To file a claim after an account holder's death, here is what Lake Trust requires:
Filing a claim
- Call 888.267.7200 (Mon-Fri 7 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat 9 a.m.-1 p.m.)
- Or visit any branch (https://laketrust.org/locations)
- Or email laketrust@laketrust.org to start the file (do not send account numbers or SSNs by email)
- POD beneficiary: photo ID and proof of death. Under MCL 490.62 the credit union may pay a beneficiary on demand once proof of death shows the beneficiary survived all the owners
- Surviving joint owner: photo ID and the death certificate; MCL 490.61 lets Lake Trust pay a surviving party on demand
- Successor trustee: the trust agreement or Certificate of Trust, the grantor's death certificate, trustee ID, and the trust EIN
- Personal representative: Letters of Personal Representative from the Michigan probate court, plus the estate EIN
Required Documents
- Original or certified copy of the death certificate
- Government-issued photo ID for the claimant (beneficiary, surviving joint owner, trustee, or personal representative)
- Letters of Personal Representative from the Michigan probate court, where no POD, trust, or joint ownership applies
- EIN for the estate account or the now-irrevocable trust
- Trust agreement or Certificate of Trust plus trustee ID, where a trust owns or is beneficiary of the account
- Written notice of the death — the agreement ties Lake Trust's 10-day check-honoring window and its treatment of powers of attorney and authorized signers to receiving notice
- Michigan small estates: an Affidavit of Decedent's Successor (form PC 598) under MCL 700.3983, or a Petition and Order for Assignment under MCL 700.3982, in place of Letters where the estate is at or below the 2026 adjusted threshold of $53,000 and 28 days have passed since death.
What to know at this institution
The value in a Lake Trust death claim is in three clauses of the Membership and Account Agreement (OAO Disclosures, rev. 6.2.26). DEATH OR INCOMPETENCE: 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, and may pay or certify checks drawn on or before the date of death for up to ten (10) days after death unless someone claiming an interest in the account orders a stop payment — so written notice, delivered early, is the executor's main lever. POD / REVOCABLE TRUST ACCOUNTS: beneficiaries cannot withdraw until every person who created the account has died and the beneficiary is then living; where two or more beneficiaries survive, they own the account in EQUAL shares with no right of survivorship between them, which means unequal splits require a trust rather than a POD box. RIGHT TO REPAYMENT / STATUTORY LIEN: Lake Trust may, without prior notice, charge against the account any due and payable debt the member owes it and apply shares and dividends under a statutory lien — but the agreement carves out (a) IRAs and similar tax-deferred accounts, (b) debt created under a credit card plan, and (c) accounts where the right of withdrawal arises only in a representative capacity. So an unpaid Lake Trust auto loan can be set off against the deceased's savings, while the IRA and a credit-card balance cannot be. Michigan's Credit Union Multiple-Party Accounts Act (Act 41 of 1968) supplies the rest: payment to a surviving party or to a POD beneficiary on proof of death discharges the credit union (MCL 490.61-490.63), and a will cannot override a survivorship designation on file (MCL 490.58). Brokerage and investment IRA claims go to LPL Financial through the member's Financial Life Planning advisor, not to Member Services.
Prepare your letter of instruction to Lake Trust
Lake Trust accepts a claimant-drafted letter of instruction. We draft it for you — addressed to Lake Trust's verified claims department, with the documents it requires enclosed.
Build your letter of instructionHow long the process takes at Lake Trust: POD and joint-survivorship payouts are usually released within days of Lake Trust receiving the death certificate and claimant ID. Estate accounts wait on the Michigan probate court — Letters of Personal Representative (or a PC 598 affidavit, which cannot be used until 28 days after death) are the gating item, so several weeks is normal. The most common reason for delays is missing or incomplete documentation, so submitting everything upfront is the best way to keep things moving.
Documentation required by Lake Trust includes Original or certified copy of the death certificate, Government-issued photo ID for the claimant (beneficiary, surviving joint owner, trustee, or personal representative), and Letters of Personal Representative from the Michigan probate court, where no POD, trust, or joint ownership applies, along with additional paperwork that varies by account type. All death certificates and court documents must be certified copies.
Frequently asked questions
Up to ten days. The DEATH OR INCOMPETENCE clause of the Lake Trust Membership and Account Agreement says the credit union may continue to honor the member's checks, items, and instructions until it both knows of the death and has had a reasonable opportunity to act on that knowledge, and that it may pay or certify checks drawn on or before the date of death for up to ten (10) days afterward unless someone claiming an interest in the account orders a stop payment. Two consequences for an executor: give written notice of the death immediately, and if checks are outstanding that should not clear, place a stop payment rather than assuming the death alone stops them. The same knowledge-plus-opportunity rule ends an agent's power of attorney and an authorized signer's access.
Their share goes to their own estate, not to the other beneficiary. The Membership and Account Agreement is explicit: where two or more beneficiaries are named and survive the death of all persons who created the account, they own the account in EQUAL shares, WITHOUT right of survivorship. The agreement also bars any withdrawal by a beneficiary until every person who created the account has died and the beneficiary is then living. Two planning consequences at Lake Trust: a POD box can only produce an equal split, so unequal shares require retitling the account into a trust; and a beneficiary who dies during the settlement drags their share into a second probate.
From most accounts, yes — but not from all of them, and the carve-outs are unusually clear. Under RIGHT TO REPAYMENT OF INDEBTEDNESS, Lake Trust may without prior notice charge against and deduct from the account any due and payable debt the member owes it, and it may apply shares and dividends under a statutory lien. The agreement then states that neither right applies if (a) the account is an IRA or similar tax-deferred account, (b) the debt was created by a consumer credit transaction under a credit card plan, or (c) the account holder's right of withdrawal arises only in a representative capacity. So an unpaid Lake Trust auto or personal loan can be set off against the deceased's savings before beneficiaries are paid, while the IRA and a Lake Trust credit card balance cannot be collected that way.
It can. Lake Trust's certificate disclosures set the penalty at 90 days' interest for terms of 3-23 months and 180 days' interest for terms of 24-72 months, and then state that in certain circumstances such as the death or incompetence of an owner, the law permits — and in some cases requires — waiver of the early-withdrawal penalty. Executors settling an estate should ask for the waiver by name when closing a certificate early rather than accept the penalty as automatic. If the certificate can wait for maturity instead, that is the cleaner path, since it also avoids the automatic-renewal trap.
Lake Trust's Member Services can be reached by phone at 888.267.7200 and email at laketrust@laketrust.org for questions throughout the claims process.
When the deceased had multiple Lake Trust accounts, some may need separate claims while others can be handled together. The Member Services can clarify what's needed for each account type.
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
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