Estate planning at Mascoma Bank
How to protect 22 Mascoma Bank accounts — manage beneficiaries in-branch, fund a trust in-branch, and file claims through Mascoma Bank's Fiduciary & Trust Services / Mascoma Wealth Management
Customer Service
Mascoma Bank, PO Box 4399, White River Junction, VT 05001
Fiduciary & Trust Services / Mascoma Wealth Management
Mascoma Bank, PO Box 4399, White River Junction, VT 05001
Customer Service (deceased account holders; handled at the branch — no separate bereavement department)
Mascoma Bank, PO Box 4399, White River Junction, VT 05001
Mascoma Bank has 22 accounts, each with different rules for what happens when the account holder dies. Of those, 13 can name a trust as beneficiary or be retitled into a trust. The right combination of beneficiary designations and trust ownership can keep the entire portfolio out of probate.
Mascoma Bank lets account holders update beneficiary designations in branch and by phone, typically taking 15-30 minutes at a branch. Trust funding is also available, allowing families to retitle accounts into the name of a revocable living trust.
Mascoma Bank provides specific procedures for both proactive estate planning and filing claims after a death.
Preparing your estate
Beneficiaries and trust funding
How to update beneficiaries in-branch, fund a trust in-branch, and review 22 account types at Mascoma Bank.
View details →When someone dies
Death claim process
Contact Mascoma Bank's Fiduciary & Trust Services / Mascoma Wealth Management to file a claim. 5-step process, 6 required documents, and contact information for survivors.
View details →For questions about any of these procedures, contact Mascoma Bank's Fiduciary & Trust Services / Mascoma Wealth Management at 1-888-627-2662.
Because Mascoma Bank serves a limited number of states, procedures for trust funding and beneficiary changes may differ depending on your location. Verify availability before starting.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on which of Mascoma's two states the decedent lived in, and the two work very differently. In VERMONT, a small estate can be administered where the estate is personal property with a fair market value of $45,000 or less (14 V.S.A. § 1901) — a bank account qualifies as personal property, but real estate does not, and Vermont's procedure is filed with the Probate Division rather than being a pure out-of-court affidavit. In NEW HAMPSHIRE, there is no dollar-limited small estate affidavit at all: the $10,000 figure in RSA 553:16 only waives the publication requirement, not administration. What New Hampshire offers instead is Waiver of Administration (RSA 553:32), available with no dollar threshold when the sole beneficiary or heir serves as administrator or all beneficiaries consent, which waives inventory, bond, and accounting. Either way, Mascoma releases an individually owned account with no POD beneficiary only on court paperwork. A POD designation made while the owner is alive avoids all of this. Consult a licensed attorney for legal questions about which procedure fits the estate.
Yes — the trust department is live. Mascoma Bank itself can be appointed a professional institutional trustee or co-trustee through its Fiduciary & Trust Services group; when it is, Mascoma Wealth Management, LLC provides the discretionary investment management on the trust assets. This is unusual for a bank of Mascoma's size, and it is the reason a Mascoma customer can keep the deposits, the trust, and the investment management under one roof rather than sending the trust to an out-of-state corporate trustee. Mascoma names two specific reasons customers appoint it: an institutional trustee provides multigenerational continuity, and it removes an individual family member from the position of administering the trust against other beneficiaries. The bank also states it collaborates with the client's attorney and assists when beneficiary designations or account titling need to change. One boundary worth understanding: assets held in the trust or managed by Mascoma Wealth Management are not FDIC insured, carry no bank guarantee, and may lose value — unlike the deposit accounts on the other side of the same branch. Contact Trust Services at 603-676-8813 or [mascoma.bank/trust-services](https://mascoma.bank/trust-services/).
Sources
Data sourced from Mascoma Bank primary sources (15 pages reviewed). How we research.
Customer Service
Mascoma Bank, PO Box 4399, White River Junction, VT 05001
Fiduciary & Trust Services / Mascoma Wealth Management
Mascoma Bank, PO Box 4399, White River Junction, VT 05001
Customer Service (deceased account holders; handled at the branch — no separate bereavement department)
Mascoma Bank, PO Box 4399, White River Junction, VT 05001
Estate planning articles
Learn how to protect your Mascoma Bank accounts and other assets with trusts, beneficiary designations, and estate planning documents.
