What to do when a Mountain Heritage FCU account holder dies
Contact Mountain Heritage FCU's Member Services (no separate estate department) — 4-step process, 7 required documents, and mountain heritage fcu publishes no processing time. a pod or joint-account claim is typically settled in branch once the certified death certificate and id are presented. an estate claim waits on the west virginia county commission, either for the small estate affidavit to be filed (which cannot happen until 30 or 60 days after death, depending on whether the successor was nominated as executor in the will) or for letters to issue.
Member Services (Parkersburg main office)
1822 Seventh Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101
Member Services (no separate estate department)
1822 Seventh Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101
Member Services, Parkersburg main office (no dedicated claims department)
1822 Seventh Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101
After a member of Mountain Heritage FCU dies, the Member Services, Parkersburg main office (no dedicated claims department) manages the transfer of accounts. POD-designated and trust-owned accounts pass directly to beneficiaries. Accounts held solely in the member's name may require probate court documents—Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration—before funds can be released.
To start, call Mountain Heritage FCU at (304) 424-7256. Have the account holder's full name, account numbers, and a certified death certificate ready before you call.
Death claim process
Here is the step-by-step death claim process at Mountain Heritage FCU:
Filing a claim
- A certified copy of the death certificate
- Your own government-issued photo ID
- POD beneficiary named: the beneficiary claims the funds directly with the death certificate and ID — the account does not go through probate
- Joint account with right of survivorship: the surviving owner keeps the account; provide the death certificate to remove the decedent
- IRA: the named IRA beneficiary claims it on the credit union's IRA distribution paperwork
- No POD, no joint owner, no trust: the estate collects, either on a West Virginia small estate affidavit (W. Va. Code § 44-1A-2, for probate personal property of $50,000 or less where the decedent owned no probate real property) or on Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration issued by the county commission
Required Documents
- Certified copy of the death certificate
- Government-issued photo ID for the claimant (POD beneficiary, surviving joint owner, trustee, or personal representative)
- Account numbers for the deceased member, if known
- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration from the county commission, where the estate is collecting and does not qualify as a small estate
- West Virginia small estate affidavit under W. Va. Code § 44-1A-2, where the estate qualifies: probate personal property of $50,000 or less and NO probate real property, filed no earlier than 30 days after death by a successor nominated as executor in the will, or 60 days after death by any other successor or where the decedent died intestate
- Certification of Trust or the trust agreement, plus successor trustee ID, for a trust-titled account
- IRA distribution election paperwork, for an IRA beneficiary
What to know at this institution
This is a four-branch credit union that publishes no deceased-member page, no claim form, and no account agreement, so there is no death-or-incapacity clause to read and no online claim channel: the process runs through the Parkersburg office at (304) 424-7256 or (800) 344-5262, fax (304) 428-2127, at 1822 Seventh Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101, or through any branch. What actually determines how a modest Mountain Heritage account is collected is West Virginia law, not credit union policy. W. Va. Code § 44-1A-2 lets a successor collect a decedent's probate personal property — a credit union account included — by affidavit rather than full administration, but only where the total probate personal property is $50,000 or less AND the decedent owned no probate real property of any kind (HB 2867, effective July 9, 2025, eliminated the former real-property allowance). The affidavit cannot be used until 30 days after death if the successor is the executor nominated in the will, or 60 days after death for anyone else and for every intestate estate. West Virginia has no separate probate court: the county commission and county clerk handle the estate. West Virginia is not a community property state, so accounts pass by title, by POD designation, or through the estate. Call the credit union before traveling to a branch, and note that the Kearneysville branch is open only Monday and Friday, 11:00am-4:30pm, and publishes no phone number of its own.
Prepare your letter of instruction to Mountain Heritage FCU
Mountain Heritage FCU accepts a claimant-drafted letter of instruction. We draft it for you — addressed to Mountain Heritage FCU's verified claims department, with the documents it requires enclosed.
Build your letter of instructionProcessing timelines at Mountain Heritage FCU: Mountain Heritage FCU publishes no processing time. A POD or joint-account claim is typically settled in branch once the certified death certificate and ID are presented. An estate claim waits on the West Virginia county commission, either for the small estate affidavit to be filed (which cannot happen until 30 or 60 days after death, depending on whether the successor was nominated as executor in the will) or for Letters to issue. Incomplete documentation is the most common cause of delays—submitting all required documents with the initial claim helps avoid additional processing time.
Mountain Heritage FCU requires several documents to process a claim, including Certified copy of the death certificate, Government-issued photo ID for the claimant (POD beneficiary, surviving joint owner, trustee, or personal representative), and Account numbers for the deceased member, if known, and additional documentation depending on the account type. Certified copies are typically needed—photocopies are generally not accepted for death certificates or court documents.
Frequently asked questions
Where the estate qualifies, yes — and for a credit union this size that is the usual path. W. Va. Code § 44-1A-2 lets a successor collect a decedent's probate personal property, a credit union account included, by affidavit rather than full administration, on two conditions: the total probate personal property is $50,000 or less, and the decedent owned NO probate real property of any kind (HB 2867, effective July 9, 2025, removed the former real-property allowance, so a house in the decedent's sole name defeats the affidavit entirely). The waiting period depends on who signs: 30 days after death if the successor is the executor nominated in the will, and 60 days after death for any other successor and for every intestate estate. The affidavit is filed with the county commission, which serves as the probate authority in West Virginia — there is no separate probate court. Take the filed affidavit, a certified death certificate, and your photo ID to a branch. If the estate does not qualify, the credit union will want Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration instead. Consult a licensed attorney for legal questions about whether an estate qualifies.
Call the Parkersburg main office at (304) 424-7256 or toll-free (800) 344-5262. This is a four-branch West Virginia credit union that publishes no claim form, no document checklist, and no deceased-member page, so the phone call is the process — there is no online portal to upload anything to. Ask for a list of every account the member held (a club account or an old certificate is easy for a family to miss) and what is owed on any loan. Bring or send a certified copy of the death certificate and your government-issued photo ID; the fax line is (304) 428-2127 and the mailing address is 1822 Seventh Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101. If the account is at a branch, note the hours before you travel: Beckley (110 North Heber Street) is open weekdays 9:00am-4:30pm, Martinsburg (321 Aikens Center) weekdays 8:00am-5:00pm, and Kearneysville (132 Murrall Drive) only on Monday and Friday, 11:00am-4:30pm, with no branch phone of its own.
On paper, in branch. The credit union publishes no beneficiary form, no trust account application, and no online designation tool, so there is nothing to download and nothing to click: call (304) 424-7256 or (800) 344-5262 and either have the paperwork mailed to you or make a branch appointment. Deposit accounts — share savings, share draft checking, the club account, money market, and certificates — take a POD (Payable on Death) beneficiary and can also be retitled into a revocable living trust; bring a Certification of Trust or the full trust agreement, photo ID for every trustee, and the trust EIN or the grantor's Social Security number, and confirm by phone first what the credit union requires. An IRA is different: it cannot be retitled into a trust, and its beneficiary is named on a separate IRA form, so completing a POD designation on the checking account does nothing for the IRA. Because designations exist only as signed paper at the branch, keep your own copy and record them in your letter of instruction.
The debt survives the borrower and is settled out of the estate. On a vehicle, recreational vehicle, boat, motor home, or farm equipment loan, the credit union holds the lien on the titled property until the loan is paid or refinanced, so the title cannot be transferred to an heir before then — an executor who plans to sell the vehicle has to clear the loan out of the sale proceeds. A signature loan is unsecured and is presented as a claim against the estate. On a home loan, the federal Garn-St. Germain Act (12 U.S.C. 1701j-3) bars a lender from calling the loan due when the property passes on the borrower's death to a spouse, a child, a relative who was living in the home, or the borrower's revocable living trust, so the heir can keep the mortgage in place while payments continue. Mountain Heritage FCU does not publish loan payoff or assumption procedures, so call the Parkersburg office at (304) 424-7256 with the loan number and keep the payments current while the estate is being settled.
Mountain Heritage FCU's Member Services, Parkersburg main office (no dedicated claims department) can be reached by phone at (800) 344-5262 and fax at (304) 428-2127 for questions throughout the claims process.
When the deceased had multiple Mountain Heritage FCU accounts, some may need separate claims while others can be handled together. The Member Services, Parkersburg main office (no dedicated claims department) can clarify what's needed for each account type.
Sources
Data sourced from Mountain Heritage FCU primary sources (11 pages reviewed). How we research.
Member Services (Parkersburg main office)
1822 Seventh Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101
Member Services (no separate estate department)
1822 Seventh Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101
Member Services, Parkersburg main office (no dedicated claims department)
1822 Seventh Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101
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