What to do when a Midland States account holder dies
Contact Midland States's Midland Trust Company (trust and estate administration) — 5-step process, 7 required documents, and midland publishes no processing-time commitment for deposit account death claims. what it does publish: special needs trust distribution requests are reviewed and, if approved, paid within a short window after all supporting documentation is received (mtc says these are given priority because they usually cover immediate needs), and mtc states plainly that the time to administer and close an estate varies with the complexity of the estate and the design of the plan. practically, a pod or joint-survivor claim clears once the branch has the death certificate and id; an estate account waits on the illinois circuit court to issue letters, which is the long pole.
Customer Care Center
Midland States Bank, Customer Care Center, 1201 Network Centre Drive, Effingham, IL 62401
Midland Trust Company (trust and estate administration)
Midland Trust Company, 225 West Washington Street, Suite 1640, Chicago, IL 60606
Customer Care Center (deposit accounts) / Midland Trust Company (trust and estate accounts)
Midland States Bank, Customer Care Center, 1201 Network Centre Drive, Effingham, IL 62401
After an account holder at Midland States dies, accounts with beneficiary designations or trust ownership transfer to the designated recipients without probate. Solely-owned accounts require the estate's representative to contact Midland States's Customer Care Center (deposit accounts) / Midland Trust Company (trust and estate accounts) at 1-855-696-4352 with the proper legal authority documents.
Death claims at Midland States can be started through an online portal, which streamlines the initial notification and document upload. Phone and mail options are also available.
Death claim process
Follow these steps to file a death claim with Midland States:
Filing a claim
- POD account: the named beneficiary claims the funds directly with a certified death certificate and photo ID; the money never enters probate
- Joint account with right of survivorship: the surviving owner keeps the account on presentation of the death certificate
- Trust-titled account: the successor trustee presents the trust agreement or Certificate of Trust plus trustee ID and takes over the account
- Individually owned with no POD: the account is an estate asset. The executor produces Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration from the Illinois circuit court, or an Illinois small estate affidavit if the estate qualifies (personal estate not exceeding $100,000, no real estate passing through probate)
- IRA or managed investment account: the beneficiary completes distribution paperwork through Midland Wealth Advisors or Raymond James, not the branch
- HSA: claimed on the Lively platform at midlandsb.livelyme.com, not at the branch
Required Documents
- Certified copy of the death certificate
- Government-issued photo ID for the claimant
- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration from the Illinois circuit court (individually owned accounts with no POD designation)
- Illinois small estate affidavit, where the estate qualifies (personal estate not exceeding $100,000 and no real estate passing through probate)
- Trust agreement or Certificate of Trust plus successor trustee ID (trust-titled accounts)
- IRA or managed-account beneficiary distribution paperwork, obtained from Midland Wealth Advisors or Raymond James (retirement and investment accounts)
- Midland Trust Company Estate Intake Form, where MTC is being engaged as executor or trustee (completed with the Trust Officer)
What to know at this institution
Midland has two doors and it matters which one you knock on. Ordinary deposit accounts run through the Customer Care Center (1-855-696-4352) and the branches; trust and estate administration runs through Midland Trust Company, a separate affiliate with its own offices at 225 West Washington Street, Suite 1640, Chicago, IL 60606 (1-312-338-7878), 120 White Plains Road, Suite 135, Tarrytown, NY 10591 (1-914-580-7500), and Rockford (1-815-231-2710). Four Midland-specific points. First, there is no deceased-depositor form and no downloadable claim packet — the only named estate document Midland publishes is the Midland Trust Company Estate Intake Form, and that one is completed WITH a Trust Officer (it is signed by the Trust Officer or Administrator), not filed by a family member on their own. It is nonetheless worth reading before a first meeting, because it shows exactly what MTC will ask for: date of death, a full list of heirs with addresses and phone numbers, and asset schedules for bank accounts, investment accounts, physical stock certificates, real estate and mineral interests, life insurance policies, and business ownership interests. Second, when MTC is engaged as executor or trustee, the engagement is not live until its Fiduciary Oversight Subcommittee accepts it — the intake form has a field for the acceptance date, so an heir should ask when acceptance occurred rather than assume the estate is being administered from the date of the call. Third, the estate touchpoints are scattered across separate platforms: the HSA is on Lively (midlandsb.livelyme.com), the personal credit card is serviced by Elan (myaccountaccess.com), mortgage statements sit on their own login, and IRAs and managed accounts run through Midland Wealth Advisors or Raymond James — reporting the death to Customer Care does not reach any of them. Fourth, Midland does not publish its consumer deposit account agreement, so its post-death check-honoring window, its treatment of a government benefit payment deposited after death, and any right of set-off against a debt the decedent owed the bank are not available in writing; ask Customer Care for those terms in writing rather than assuming them.
Prepare your letter of instruction to Midland States
Midland States accepts a claimant-drafted letter of instruction. We draft it for you — addressed to Midland States's verified claims department, with the documents it requires enclosed.
Build your letter of instructionOpening an account for the estate itself
Checks made out to the estate deposit into an account titled to the estate, opened by the appointed executor or administrator under the estate's EIN.
How to open an estate account at Midland States →How long the process takes at Midland States: Midland publishes no processing-time commitment for deposit account death claims. What it does publish: special needs trust distribution requests are reviewed and, if approved, paid within a short window after all supporting documentation is received (MTC says these are given priority because they usually cover immediate needs), and MTC states plainly that the time to administer and close an estate varies with the complexity of the estate and the design of the plan. Practically, a POD or joint-survivor claim clears once the branch has the death certificate and ID; an estate account waits on the Illinois circuit court to issue Letters, which is the long pole. The most common reason for delays is missing or incomplete documentation, so submitting everything upfront is the best way to keep things moving.
Documentation required by Midland States includes Certified copy of the death certificate, Government-issued photo ID for the claimant, and Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration from the Illinois circuit court (individually owned accounts with no POD designation), along with additional paperwork that varies by account type. All death certificates and court documents must be certified copies.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on which affiliate holds the account, and Midland does not make this obvious. Ordinary deposit accounts — checking, savings, money market, CDs — go through the Customer Care Center at 1-855-696-4352 (Monday-Friday 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM CST, Saturday 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM CST) or any branch; there is no separate bereavement line and no downloadable deceased-depositor form, so the representative tells you what your role requires. Trust-titled and trust-administered accounts go instead to Midland Trust Company, which has its own offices and its own phone numbers: Chicago (225 West Washington Street, Suite 1640, Chicago, IL 60606) at 1-312-338-7878, New York (120 White Plains Road, Suite 135, Tarrytown, NY 10591) at 1-914-580-7500, and Rockford at 1-815-231-2710. MTC assigns a named Trust Officer and Trust Administrator to each relationship. Three other estate touchpoints do not run through Midland at all: the HSA is on the Lively platform, the personal credit card is serviced by Elan at myaccountaccess.com, and IRAs and managed accounts run through Midland Wealth Advisors or Raymond James. Reporting the death to Customer Care does not reach any of those.
The Estate Intake Form is the only named estate document Midland publishes ([mtc-estate-intake-form.pdf](https://www.midlandsb.com/docs/default-source/default/files/2021-07/mtc-estate-intake-form.pdf)), and it is posted under Attorney & Consultant Forms rather than as a consumer form. You do not file it yourself: it is completed with a Trust Officer and signed by the Trust Officer or Administrator when Midland Trust Company is engaged on an estate. It is still worth reading before a first meeting, because it is a precise inventory of what MTC will ask for — the date of death, a full list of heirs with addresses and phone numbers, and asset schedules for bank accounts, investment accounts, physical stock certificates, real estate and mineral interests, life insurance policies (with the ownership interest, not just the death benefit), and business ownership interests. It also carries a line an heir should know about: a "Date of Acceptance by Fiduciary Oversight Subcommittee." MTC's appointment as executor or trustee is not effective until that internal committee accepts the engagement, so ask when acceptance occurred rather than assuming administration began the day you called.
The Midland Health Savings Account is powered by Lively and lives at [midlandsb.livelyme.com](https://midlandsb.livelyme.com/login) — a different login from Midland personal online banking. That means the HSA beneficiary is designated inside the HSA platform, not at a branch, and a POD designation you add to your Midland checking account does nothing for the HSA. Getting the name right matters more on an HSA than on almost any other account, because the tax result turns on who the beneficiary is: a surviving SPOUSE can take the account over as their own HSA and it keeps its tax-free character for qualified medical expenses, while a NON-SPOUSE beneficiary loses HSA status on the date of death and the account's fair market value becomes taxable income to them in that year. If no beneficiary is named, the value generally lands in the estate and is taxable on the decedent's final return. An HSA cannot be retitled into a trust, and naming a trust as HSA beneficiary produces the non-spouse tax result, so consult a licensed attorney or tax adviser before doing it.
Midland States's Customer Care Center (deposit accounts) / Midland Trust Company (trust and estate accounts) can be reached by phone at 1-855-696-4352 for questions throughout the claims process.
Multiple Midland States accounts may mean multiple claims. Some account types can be processed together, but others require their own documentation. Check with the Customer Care Center (deposit accounts) / Midland Trust Company (trust and estate accounts) to confirm what applies.
Sources
Data sourced from Midland States primary sources (18 pages reviewed). How we research.
Customer Care Center
Midland States Bank, Customer Care Center, 1201 Network Centre Drive, Effingham, IL 62401
Midland Trust Company (trust and estate administration)
Midland Trust Company, 225 West Washington Street, Suite 1640, Chicago, IL 60606
Customer Care Center (deposit accounts) / Midland Trust Company (trust and estate accounts)
Midland States Bank, Customer Care Center, 1201 Network Centre Drive, Effingham, IL 62401
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