Estate planning options at Lighthouse CU
The goal with your Lighthouse CU accounts is to make sure every account has a transfer mechanism in place—either a POD beneficiary designation or trust ownership. Because Lighthouse CU is a membership-based institution, trust retitling must maintain the membership eligibility requirement. Accounts without either one pass through the estate, by probate or the state's small-estate procedure.
Each of Lighthouse CU's 13 accounts has different rules for how it transfers at death. The sections below explain the options for each.
No beneficiary form at Lighthouse CU
What Lighthouse CU says about beneficiaries and trusts
Each section is Lighthouse CU's own statement, with the document it comes from numbered under Sources.
Which accounts take a beneficiary2
- Joint account with survivorship
At a New Hampshire branch, two or more people can hold a joint account with survivorship, so the balance belongs to whoever outlives the others.1
- Payable-on-death account
At a Maine branch, a single owner or several owners can add a pay-on-death designation, and the money goes to the named beneficiaries still living when the last owner dies.1
What Lighthouse CU's agreement says about beneficiaries3
- The institution's right to refuse a designation or an account title
Lighthouse may turn down some ownership forms and beneficiary designations, and it takes no view on whether a chosen form suits the owner beyond deciding whom it pays.1
- A beneficiary who dies first
Only pay-on-death beneficiaries alive at the last owner's death share in a Maine-branch account.1
- Claims against the account
Any pledge an owner gave on the account is satisfied before a surviving owner or a beneficiary takes the balance.1
Which accounts a trust can hold1
- Trust account
A trustee acting under a written trust agreement may hold a Lighthouse account. Opening it does not make Lighthouse a trustee, and the credit union does not oversee how the trust terms are followed.1
What Lighthouse CU says about trust accounts2
- Membership
Under the bylaws, shares held in a revocable trust require the settlor to be a Lighthouse member personally, and the trust has to name its beneficiary. A trust can itself be a member only when every settlor, beneficiary and trustee falls within the field of membership.2
- The trust's tax identification number
For an informal revocable trust account, the agreement's taxpayer-number table lists the owner's Social Security number.1
Not in Lighthouse CU's published guidance10
- What the owner provides to name a beneficiary
- A beneficiary designation form
- An online way to name a beneficiary
- Who may be named as beneficiary
- How shares are split among beneficiaries
- What a designation takes to be effective
- A procedure for holding an account in a trust
- A trust account form
- Which trust documents it accepts
- How long a change takes
Sources2
- 1.Consumer Account Combined Disclosure Agreement, Rev. 4/26
- 2.Lighthouse Federal Credit Union Bylaws, Amended and Approved by BOD: October 28, 2024
Sources
Data sourced from Lighthouse CU primary sources (32 pages reviewed). How we research.
Download these Lighthouse CU instructions
A printable PDF with the steps, required documents, and contact details, verified against Lighthouse CU primary sources. Bring it to the branch or keep it beside the phone.
Lighthouse CU estate support
Member Care
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Estate requests go through general customer service.
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