How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at Lake Trust
Covers 17 deposit, 2 hsa, 3 retirement, 1 investment, and 3 lending accounts — beneficiaries must be updated in-branch
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
Preparing your Lake Trust accounts for estate transfer involves two key steps: designating beneficiaries on each account and, where appropriate, retitling accounts into a trust. Because Lake Trust is a membership-based institution, trust retitling must maintain the membership eligibility requirement. Accounts with Payable on Death designations or trust ownership bypass probate entirely.
Lake Trust has 26 product types, and the estate transfer rules differ across them. Some support Payable on Death (POD) designations, some can be retitled into a trust, and others will require probate if nothing is set up. Each is covered below.
- Full legal name
- Date of birth
- Social Security number
- Relationship to the account owner
- Share of the account
Required Documents
- Trust name, date established, and tax ID (EIN or SSN)
Special Requirements
- Lake Trust treats "Pay-On-Death" and "revocable trust account" as ACCOUNT OWNERSHIP types in the Membership and Account Agreement, not as an add-on form — the designation lives on the account paperwork.
- Beneficiaries cannot withdraw anything until (1) every person who created the account has died and (2) the beneficiary is then living.
- Two or more surviving beneficiaries take in EQUAL shares with NO right of survivorship between them — if one of them later dies before payout, that share goes to their own estate, not to the others.
- Each account needs its own designation; a POD on Membership Savings does not carry over to a Special Savings account or a certificate.
- Under the Michigan Credit Union Multiple-Party Accounts Act (MCL 490.58), a survivorship or POD designation on file cannot be changed by your will — only by a signed written order the credit union receives while you are alive.
- IRA, HSA, and LPL Financial beneficiary designations are made on their own paperwork, not on the deposit account.
Sources
Data sourced from Lake Trust primary sources (17 pages reviewed). How we research.
Download these Lake Trust instructions
Download instructions for the whole estateA printable PDF with the steps, required documents, and contact details — verified against Lake Trust primary sources. Bring it to the branch or keep it beside the phone.
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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