What to do when a Provident account holder dies
Contact Provident's Beacon Trust (Wealth Management & Trust Services) — 7-step process, and 8 required documents
Customer Care Center
Provident Bank, P.O. Box 1001, Iselin, NJ 08830-1001
Beacon Trust (Wealth Management & Trust Services)
Beacon Trust, 163 Madison Avenue, Suite 600, Morristown, NJ 07960
Customer Care Center (no dedicated estate line; death notification runs through Customer Care or any branch)
Provident Bank, P.O. Box 1001, Iselin, NJ 08830-1001
After an account holder at Provident 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 Provident's Customer Care Center (no dedicated estate line; death notification runs through Customer Care or any branch) at 1-800-448-7768 with the proper legal authority documents.
Provident provides an online portal for initiating death claims, which can simplify the initial notification and document submission process. Claims can also be started by phone or by mailing the required documents.
Death claim process
Here is the step-by-step death claim process at Provident:
Filing a claim
- Call the Customer Care Center at 1-800-448-7768 (Monday-Friday 8 AM to 7 PM ET, Saturday 9 AM to 2 PM ET) or visit any branch
- Provident's account terms obligate you to "notify us promptly if any Account owner dies or becomes legally incompetent," and the bank keeps honoring the decedent's checks, items, and instructions until it both knows of the death AND has had a reasonable opportunity to act on that knowledge. Verbal notice starts the clock; written notice proves it
- Provident's terms let the bank pay or certify checks drawn on or before the date of death for up to TEN (10) calendar days after the owner's death, unless someone claiming an interest in the account orders a stop payment
- If a pre-death check should not clear, ask the bank to stop payment as a person claiming an interest in the account -- notifying the bank of the death alone does not stop those items
- The early withdrawal penalty may be waived on the death of a CD owner only if the early withdrawal request is made before the FIRST RENEWAL after the owner's death
- Inventory the decedent's CD maturity dates immediately -- an auto-renewal can cost the estate the penalty waiver
- Certified death certificate and your government-issued photo ID (needed on every path)
- POD account: you claim as the named POD beneficiary. Provident may first charge the account for anything the deceased owner, a joint owner, or a POD beneficiary owes the bank
- Joint account: funds pass to the surviving joint owner, but Provident's terms note applicable state law may require additional acts or documents before release
- Trust-titled account: the acting trustee presents the trust agreement or Certification of Trust. Provident's terms provide that if it has received no other written notice of the trust's existence and terms when the trustee (or both trustees) dies, the deposit is paid on request to the trust beneficiary or their legal representative -- so file your Certification of Trust with the bank while you can
- No POD, no joint owner, no trust: the account is a probate asset. Present Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration from the surrogate/probate court
- Under New Jersey's blanket waiver, a financial institution may release no more than 50 percent of the date-of-death balance without a waiver from the Division of Taxation (https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/inheritance-estate/estatetax.shtml). Expect Provident to hold the other half
- For a Class A beneficiary (spouse, child, grandchild, parent, grandparent), file Form L-8, the Affidavit and Self-Executing Waiver, DIRECTLY with the bank -- not with the state -- to release the remaining funds: https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/pdf/other_forms/inheritance/itl8.pdf
- Beyond the 50 percent, funds may also be released in any amount by check made payable to New Jersey Inheritance and/or Estate Tax
Required Documents
- Certified copy of the death certificate
- Government-issued photo ID for the claimant
- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration (probate accounts with no POD, joint owner, or trust title)
- New Jersey Form L-8, Affidavit and Self-Executing Waiver, filed directly with the bank for Class A beneficiaries (releases the balance beyond the 50 percent blanket waiver)
- New Jersey Form 0-1 tax waiver from the Division of Taxation where Form L-8 is not available (non-Class A beneficiaries)
- Trust agreement or Certification of Trust (accounts titled in a trust)
- Small Estate Affidavit, if the estate qualifies under the law of the state where the account is domiciled
- Proof of relationship to the deceased
What to know at this institution
Provident Bank does not publish a dedicated estate/bereavement phone line or an online claims portal. Death notification runs through the Customer Care Center at 1-800-448-7768 or any branch, and the substantive rules come from the bank's Terms and Conditions Agreement for Consumer Deposit Accounts (effective April 17, 2023). The clauses that matter to an executor: (1) you must notify the bank promptly of an owner's death, and the bank keeps honoring the decedent's checks and instructions until it knows of the death and has had a reasonable opportunity to act; (2) the bank may pay or certify checks drawn on or before the date of death for up to ten calendar days after death unless someone claiming an interest in the account orders a stop payment; (3) a CD's early withdrawal penalty may be waived on an owner's death only if the request is made before the first renewal after the death; (4) the bank may set off what the decedent owed it before paying a POD beneficiary; (5) an agent under a power of attorney loses authority at the owner's death. Because most Provident accounts are New Jersey-domiciled, the New Jersey blanket waiver caps a pre-waiver release at 50 percent of the date-of-death balance, and a Class A beneficiary lifts the rest by filing Form L-8 directly with the bank. Trust and estate administration services are available through Beacon Trust, a Provident subsidiary, at 1-866-377-8090.
Prepare your letter of instruction to Provident
Provident accepts a claimant-drafted letter of instruction. We draft it for you — addressed to Provident'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 Provident →Provident requires several documents to process a claim, including Certified copy of the death certificate, Government-issued photo ID for the claimant, and Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration (probate accounts with no POD, joint owner, or trust title), 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
That is New Jersey law, not a Provident policy. New Jersey places an automatic lien on a decedent's assets for inheritance tax, and under the state's blanket waiver a financial institution may release no more than 50 percent of the date-of-death balance of any account without a waiver from the Division of Taxation. To free the rest, a Class A beneficiary -- a spouse or civil union partner, child, grandchild, parent, or grandparent -- files Form L-8, the Affidavit and Self-Executing Waiver, DIRECTLY with Provident rather than with the state (https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/pdf/other_forms/inheritance/itl8.pdf). Beneficiaries who are not Class A need a Form 0-1 waiver issued by the Division of Taxation. Separately, funds may be released in any amount by a check made payable to New Jersey Inheritance and/or Estate Tax. See https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/inheritance-estate/estatetax.shtml.
Not automatically, and this catches executors out. Provident's Terms and Conditions Agreement says the bank may continue to honor checks, items, and instructions issued by a deceased owner until it (a) knows of the death and (b) has had a reasonable opportunity to act on that knowledge. Even after notice, the terms allow Provident to pay or certify checks drawn on or before the date of death for up to ten calendar days after the death -- unless someone claiming an interest in the account orders a stop payment. So notifying the bank of the death does not, by itself, stop outstanding checks. If a pre-death check should not clear, ask for a stop payment as a person claiming an interest in the account. You also have an affirmative duty under the terms to notify Provident promptly when an owner dies or becomes legally incompetent. Call 1-800-448-7768 and follow up in writing.
Possibly not, but the window closes. Provident's account terms state the early withdrawal penalty may be waived upon the death of a CD owner, provided the early withdrawal request is made before the FIRST RENEWAL after the owner's death. If the CD auto-renews while the estate is still gathering paperwork, the estate can lose the waiver. Inventory the decedent's CDs and their maturity dates as one of the first things you do, and tell the bank you are requesting an early withdrawal on the death of the owner. The same terms also waive the penalty when an owner has been determined legally incompetent by a court.
Check the account TITLE, not just the beneficiary field. Provident's terms warn that the state where the account is domiciled, or where the owner lives, may require specific words in the title -- such as "payable on death" or "POD" -- to create a valid POD account, that "You are solely responsible for meeting these requirements," and that if they are not met Provident may be required to treat the account as if there were no POD beneficiary at all. In that case the money falls into probate, which is the exact opposite of what you intended. Two more Provident-specific rules: a POD beneficiary takes only if they are alive when the owner (or last joint owner) dies, and Provident may first charge the account for anything the deceased owner, a joint owner, or the POD beneficiary owes the bank.
Contact Provident Bank. Provident Financial Services acquired Lakeland Bancorp in a merger completed May 16, 2024; Provident was the surviving institution and former Lakeland Bank branches and accounts now operate under the Provident Bank name. If you are settling an estate and find Lakeland Bank statements, checks, passbooks, or CDs among the decedent's papers, those accounts are Provident accounts today. Call the Provident Customer Care Center at 1-800-448-7768 (Monday-Friday 8 AM to 7 PM ET, Saturday 9 AM to 2 PM ET) or visit a branch with the death certificate. Provident does not run a separate estate hotline or online claims portal -- notification runs through Customer Care or a branch. Trust and estate administration is available through Provident's Beacon Trust subsidiary at 1-866-377-8090.
Provident's Customer Care Center (no dedicated estate line; death notification runs through Customer Care or any branch) can be reached by phone at 1-800-448-7768 for questions throughout the claims process.
Multiple Provident accounts may mean multiple claims. Some account types can be processed together, but others require their own documentation. Check with the Customer Care Center (no dedicated estate line; death notification runs through Customer Care or any branch) to confirm what applies.
Sources
Data sourced from Provident primary sources (29 pages reviewed). How we research.
Customer Care Center
Provident Bank, P.O. Box 1001, Iselin, NJ 08830-1001
Beacon Trust (Wealth Management & Trust Services)
Beacon Trust, 163 Madison Avenue, Suite 600, Morristown, NJ 07960
Customer Care Center (no dedicated estate line; death notification runs through Customer Care or any branch)
Provident Bank, P.O. Box 1001, Iselin, NJ 08830-1001
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