What to do when a MHV FCU account holder dies

It will not accept the Will. MHV's estate guide states flatly that it "cannot accept a decedent's Will as verification of a fiduciary's authority to act on behalf of the decedent's estate," and that it can accept only ORIGINALS or CERTIFIED COPIES of what it does require. Four documents do the work, depending on the situation: Letters Testamentary (the Surrogate's Court certificate appointing the executor named in a Will); Letters of Administration (issued where there is no Will, or no living executor); an Affidavit of Heirship, which establishes the heirs where there is no Will; and a Survivor's Affidavit, which is the document used to request payment from a decedent's individual account under New York SCPA 1310. Every one of them comes with a death certificate and unexpired government-issued photo ID for the person claiming. One trap: if you held a Power of Attorney for the member, that authority ended at the moment of death — MHV says so explicitly — so a POA gets you nothing here. Ask for the guide, or read it at [Settlement of Decedent's Accounts](https://www.datocms-assets.com/166635/1759404604-decedent-account-ebook-web-version_1.pdf), before you make the trip to a branch.

It can, and MHV builds for it: the Survivor's Affidavit it lists among its required documents exists precisely so a survivor can request payment from a decedent's individual account under NY SCPA 1310 without full Letters. Separately, New York's small estate procedure — voluntary administration under SCPA 1301 — is available where the decedent left $50,000 or less in personal property, with no waiting period before filing. Deposit accounts, share certificates, and money market balances at MHV are personal property and count toward that limit; real property does not qualify for the procedure at all. The practical effect for an MHV member's family is that a modest deposit-only estate can often be settled with a voluntary administration through the Surrogate's Court in the county where the decedent lived (Ulster and Dutchess for most MHV members) rather than a full probate, and MHV will accept the resulting certificate the same way it accepts Letters. What the small estate route does NOT do is bypass MHV's own rule that outstanding MHV debts are satisfied first. Consult a licensed attorney for legal questions about which New York procedure fits an estate.

Because MHV does not settle those accounts itself. Its estate guide states that IRA and HSA settlement "is handled through MHV's IRA/HSA Plan Administrator." The sequence is: you give MHV the death certificate; MHV forwards it to the Plan Administrator; the Plan Administrator mails the beneficiary election forms directly to the named beneficiaries, or to the estate administrator if no beneficiary is named; you return all completed forms and any requested documents DIRECTLY to the Plan Administrator at the mailing address they give you, not to MHV or to a branch; and the Plan Administrator then authorizes MHV to disburse the funds. This means an MHV IRA claim has an extra party and an extra mail cycle in it that a checking or savings claim does not, so start it early. It also means a trust named as beneficiary of an MHV IRA is documented on the Plan Administrator's forms, not on MHV's. Note as well that closing an IRA at MHV carries a $15 IRA close-out fee under the credit union's published fee schedule.

On a car loan, no. MHV states it is "unable to accept continued loan payments in exchange for retaining collateral," because a loan agreement needs a living borrower who is responsible for it — with no living borrower, the loan is in default. To keep the vehicle, the loan has to be paid off in full, or a living person has to apply and qualify to refinance the debt into a new loan in their own name. Once it is paid off MHV issues a lien release, but the title transfer itself is a DMV matter, not something the credit union controls. If you do not want the car, MHV will arrange a voluntary repossession and auction, apply the net proceeds to the balance, and pursue any deficiency against the estate. A MORTGAGE or home equity loan works the opposite way. Under the CFPB rule that MHV cites in its guide, an identified Successor-in-Interest — someone who inherits the property under the Will or as next of kin — is afforded the same protections the decedent had before death: payments continue to be accepted with no requirement to refinance into their own name, and the successor may apply for hardship assistance and be evaluated under normal policy. No further advances are permitted on a home equity line of credit after the borrower's death. If the decedent had TruStage payment protection on the loan, MHV files a Credit Life claim on receipt of the death certificate (TruStage: 800.621.6323).