What to do when a Lighthouse CU account holder dies

A surviving joint member can keep using their own debit card until the account is closed; the deceased member's cards are turned off.¹

For an account held at a New Hampshire branch, a joint account with survivorship belongs to the surviving owners when one owner dies, and two or more survivors hold it together with survivorship.²

For an account held at a Maine branch, money in a pay-on-death account goes to the surviving named beneficiaries after the last owner dies and stays out of that owner's estate. A single-owner account with no designation passes through the owner's estate.²

The share certificate disclosure lists an owner's death among the cases in which the early withdrawal penalty can be waived.³

The Visa cardholder agreement makes the cardholder's death a default. Lighthouse may then suspend the credit line, close the card account, cancel its cards and ask for the full balance at once.⁴

A joint borrower or co-signer usually remains responsible for what is left on a loan. A credit line shared with the deceased member is reviewed before it is kept open, an authorized user's access ends at once, and the credit union checks whether debt protection on the loan can pay part of the balance.¹

Investment and insurance accounts held through the credit union's Cetera advisors, which are not credit union accounts⁵

Life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance sold through the credit union⁵

A will alone is not accepted as proof of who may act. The credit union pays out account proceeds only after probate is complete and it has a copy of the Certificate of Appointment naming the administrator or executor.¹

Direct deposits from Social Security, a pension or an employer are taken up with whoever sends them, and the credit union returns a deposit when the sender says it must.¹

Companies drawing automatic payments from the account have to be told of the death by the family, and they may ask for the death certificate and probate papers.¹

Until Lighthouse knows of the death and has had a fair chance to act, it may keep honoring checks and instructions. It may pay checks written on or before the date of death for ten days afterward unless someone claiming an interest in the account tells it to stop.²

Members agree to tell Lighthouse promptly when anyone with the right to withdraw from an account dies.²

An agent's authority under a power of attorney ends with the owner's death, though Lighthouse may keep following the agent until it has written notice or actual knowledge of the death and time to act on it.^{2, 1}

When survivors or beneficiaries make claims that conflict, Lighthouse may hold the funds until a court decides or it receives proof it accepts.²

A pledge of the account is paid off before any surviving owner or beneficiary takes the balance, and Lighthouse may apply the account to a due debt an owner owes it, except an IRA.²

The bylaws let a deceased member's share account, unless it is held jointly with another member, stay open until the close of the dividend period in which the administration of the estate is completed.⁶

After 12 months without activity an account is charged $5 a month, and turning an account over to the state as unclaimed property costs $50.⁷

Account research costs $25 an hour with a one-hour minimum, and each statement copy costs $3.⁷