Estate planning options at Regions
Estate planning for your Regions accounts starts with understanding how each one transfers at death. Beneficiary designations bypass probate, but the right approach depends on the account type, your tax situation, and how much control you want over distributions.
Regions offers 18 accounts, each with its own transfer rules. The sections below cover how to set up beneficiaries, fund a trust, and which products support each approach.
No beneficiary form at Regions
Beneficiary designation is not available for investment accounts at Regions.
What Regions says about beneficiaries and trusts
Each section is Regions's own statement, with the document it comes from numbered under Sources.
Which accounts take a beneficiary1
- Payable-on-death account
Section 25 of the Regions Deposit Agreement governs accounts that name one or more POD beneficiaries.1
Who can be named1
- A minor
POD funds are paid to the named beneficiaries then living, whether adult or minor.1
How many beneficiaries, and how shares are split
- All accounts
On the death of the depositor or surviving depositors, POD funds are paid in equal shares to the named beneficiaries then living, whether adult or minor.1
What Regions's agreement says about beneficiaries3
- A designation and a will
Unless applicable law expressly provides otherwise, POD funds are not inherited by the depositor's heirs and are not controlled by the depositor's will.1
- What the owner keeps while living
During the depositor's lifetime the beneficiary's interest is revocable and only the depositor may withdraw funds.1
- Who can see the designation
A named beneficiary can receive the funds but cannot access the account, get statements, or be added to the account.2
Which accounts a trust can hold2
- Trust account
Regions holds a formal trust account for one or more trustees under a written trust agreement or a will provided to Regions when the account is opened (Deposit Agreement Section 24).1
Under Section 1 of the Regions Deposit Agreement, Regions is a debtor and creditor on an account titled as a trust account and does not act as the depositor's fiduciary.1
- Fiduciary account
Under Section 30, Regions has no duty to supervise transactions in fiduciary accounts, including trust accounts, and the depositors indemnify it against beneficiary claims.1
What Regions says about trust accounts1
- Review of the trust document
As a condition to opening or maintaining the account, Regions may require the trustees and each beneficiary to sign certificates, affidavits or instruments attesting to the terms of the trust, and it may accept those in place of reviewing the trust instrument.1
Accounts handled elsewhere1
- Regions Private Wealth Management
Serves as trustee or administrative agent for the trustee; a business unit of Regions Bank3
Not in Regions's published guidance5
- A beneficiary designation form
- A beneficiary designation procedure
- What the owner provides to name a beneficiary
- Contingent beneficiary designations
- A procedure for holding an account in a trust
Sources
Data sourced from Regions primary sources (23 pages reviewed). How we research.
Download these Regions instructions
A printable PDF with the steps, required documents, and contact details, verified against Regions primary sources. Bring it to the branch or keep it beside the phone.
Regions estate support
Estate Administration (Regions Private Wealth Management)
Website
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