How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at Maine Savings FCU

The beneficiary / payable-on-death (POD) payee designation covers deposit accounts: checking, savings, money market and certificates. Maine Savings records it on a service form or directly in its records (MSA Provision 4.a).¹

IRAs carry a separate retirement-account beneficiary designation. A deposit-account POD payee does not carry over to a retirement account.¹

The Coverdell ESA carries its own retirement-account beneficiary designation; a deposit-account POD payee does not apply to it.¹

Account life savings insurance and the member AD&D benefit carry their own beneficiary designations, separate from a deposit-account POD payee.¹

Investment accounts through Maine Wealth Planning / LPL Financial are handled by the advisor, not by the credit union.²

An organization such as a charity can be named as a beneficiary/POD payee.³

Each POD payee takes an equal share: the balance is divided by the number of payees. Maine Savings does not offer percentage allocations or a contingent-payee tier on deposit accounts (MSA Provisions 4.a and 4.b).¹

The owner signs the form; on a joint account, changes require the signatures of all living owners. The beneficiary does not need to be present.^{3, 4}

Completed by the account owner; on a joint account, all living owners sign. Sent by the institution on request.^{5, 4}

Under MSA Provision 4.k the member irrevocably waives the right to make testamentary dispositions from any account, and the ownership and survivorship features of an account control and supersede an inconsistent testamentary disposition. A will does not override the designation.¹

There is no contingent POD payee. If every named payee dies before the owner, the funds go to the owner's estate.¹

If one of several POD payees dies before the owner, that share is divided evenly among the surviving payees on proof of the payee's death. If a POD payee dies after the owner but before receiving the funds, that payee's own estate may claim their share.¹

On a joint (multiple owner) account, the POD payee takes only after the last surviving owner dies.¹

Maine Savings does not notify a person that they have been named. MSA Provisions 4.a and 25.c make telling your representative, payees and family members about your accounts the owner's own responsibility.¹

An "information user" under MSA Provision 4.j is a different designation: it lets a named person see account information but gives no ownership, no survivorship right and no authority to transact, and it ends when Maine Savings has notice of the owner's death.¹

Checking, savings, money market and certificate accounts can be held by a trustee for a trust.¹

IRAs cannot be retitled to a trust.¹

Completed by the trustee. Sent by the institution on request.⁴

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A single trustee has the same rights as an account owner, and where there are two or more trustees, any trustee may act alone (MSA Provision 4.h).¹

For IRS reporting, the name that appears first in Maine Savings' records generally must match the SSN or EIN certified on behalf of the trust; on request Maine Savings can write the trust's full name into the record (MSA Provision 4.h).¹

A successor trustee has no rights to the account or its funds until they deliver proof of succession and authority that Maine Savings verifies (MSA Provision 4.h).¹

The credit union administers the account, not the trust: the trustee alone is responsible for following the trust's terms, and Maine Savings states it is not assisting with or advising on the trust (MSA Provision 4.h).¹

Maine Savings may keep a copy of the trust documentation for initial due diligence but thereafter may refer to and rely exclusively on the MSA and its own records (MSA Provision 4.h).¹

Maine Savings may require proof of authority to negotiate a check payable to a trust before accepting it, and may require that it be deposited into the trust's own account (MSA Provision 4.h).¹

Opening the trust account commits every person or organization associated with the trust, including grantors, trustees, successor trustees and beneficiaries, to indemnify, defend and hold the credit union harmless.¹

The member is responsible for the cost of any legal advice Maine Savings requires on a trust matter (MSA Provisions 4.h and 1.g).¹

Investment accounts, financial planning and investment advisory services, including estate planning²