Estate planning options at NBH Bank

When the owner dies, a P.O.D. account is owned by the surviving P.O.D. payees.¹

Two or more surviving P.O.D. payees are paid in equal shares, unless the bank's account records state otherwise and as allowed by state law.¹

If no P.O.D. payee survives the last owner, state law determines ownership of the funds.¹

A P.O.D. account held by more than one owner follows the joint account rules. By the bank's policy, all joint account holders are joint tenants with right of survivorship.¹

The owner can change the P.O.D. payees "by written direction to us."¹

An authorized signer does not own the account unless also designated as a P.O.D. payee or trust account beneficiary.¹

The Deposit Account Agreement provides for a Formal Trust Account: "an Account held by one or more trustees for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries according to a written trust agreement."¹

A Totten Trust Account, an informal trust account without a written trust agreement and owned by the trustee, is a separate ownership form.¹

When an account is held by two or more trustees, "each authorizes the other to draw items and otherwise act on the Account."¹

The bank acts "only as custodian of the trust funds" and is under no obligation to act as a trustee or to inquire into the trustees' powers or duties. It is not acting as a fiduciary even if the account is titled as a trust account.¹

Corporate trustee services, with trust situs in numerous states including Wyoming^{3, 4}