Estate planning options at Pinnacle Bank
There are two ways to keep your Pinnacle Bank accounts out of probate: adding beneficiary designations and retitling eligible accounts into a revocable living trust. Which approach works best depends on the account type and your overall estate plan.
Each of Pinnacle Bank's 14 accounts has different rules for how it transfers at death. The sections below explain the options for each.
No beneficiary form at Pinnacle Bank
Required Documents
- Ownership documentation Pinnacle requires, signed
Required Documents
- Documentation of the trust's existence and the trustee's authority (if the bank requires it). The bank reserves the right to require it from any trustee or co-trustee
- Trust taxpayer identification number. The deposit agreement states that for trusts the TIN is the Employer Identification Number. It is certified on the signature card or IRS Form W-9
- Signature card
Beneficiary designation is not available for investment accounts at Pinnacle Bank.
Required Documents
- Ownership documentation Pinnacle requires, signed
What Pinnacle Bank says about beneficiaries and trusts
Each section is Pinnacle Bank's own statement, with the document it comes from numbered under Sources.
Which accounts take a beneficiary1
- Payable-on-death account
A deposit account can be titled as a Revocable Trust (ITF) or Pay-on-Death (POD) account naming one or more beneficiaries.1
How many beneficiaries, and how shares are split
- All accounts
Two or more surviving beneficiaries own the account in equal shares, without right of survivorship.1
What a designation takes to be effective
- All accounts
The deposit agreement states that you agree to sign the documentation necessary to create the proper ownership of your account.1
What Pinnacle Bank's agreement says about beneficiaries3
- What the owner keeps while living
Each person who created the account can later change beneficiaries, change the account type, close the account, or withdraw any part of the deposit.1
- A beneficiary who dies first
Beneficiaries may withdraw only after every individual who created the account has died, and only if one or more beneficiaries are then living.1
- Joint accounts
When two or more people create a POD or ITF account, they own it jointly with survivorship.1
Which accounts a trust can hold1
- Trust account
The deposit agreement defines a trust account as one opened under a valid, written agreement or will that creates a trust and transacts through its trustee or co-trustees.1
What Pinnacle Bank says about trust accounts1
- Review of the trust document
Except to confirm a trustee's authority to open, manage or close an account, Pinnacle will not read or interpret trust documents, has no duty to monitor a trustee's accounts, and assumes no liability for administering the trust.1
Accounts handled elsewhere1
- Pinnacle trust division
Trust and fiduciary services, with local trust and estate administration2
Not in Pinnacle Bank's published guidance1
- A beneficiary designation form
Sources2
- 1.Disclosures and Deposit Account Agreement, Revised June 2025
- 2.Trust
Sources
(1)·
Data sourced from Pinnacle Bank primary sources (13 pages reviewed). How we research.
Download these Pinnacle Bank instructions
A printable PDF with the steps, required documents, and contact details, verified against Pinnacle Bank primary sources. Bring it to the branch or keep it beside the phone.
Pinnacle Bank estate support
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