Estate planning options at Rockland Trust
There are two ways to keep your Rockland Trust 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.
Across 11 product types, Rockland Trust accounts vary in how they transfer at death. The sections below walk through Payable on Death (POD) designations, trust funding options, and which products support each method.
No beneficiary form at Rockland Trust
Required Documents
- Certification of trust. The bank may require one
- Trust agreement or affidavit of trust. Section 5 names it among the documents that, "when in a form acceptable to the Bank, will govern the deposit account."
- Name and address of each trust beneficiary. The agreement requires every beneficiary of the trust to be a natural person
- Signature card designating the trustee in a fiduciary capacity
- Taxpayer Identification Number for the account. The agreement requires verification of a Taxpayer Identification Number to open any account
- Any other information or documentation the bank requests
What Rockland Trust says about beneficiaries and trusts
Each section is Rockland Trust's own statement, with the document it comes from numbered under Sources.
Which accounts take a beneficiary1
- Payable-on-death account
The Personal Deposit Account Agreement provides a death-beneficiary account called an unwritten ("Totten") trust deposit account, created by the owner "in trust for one or more parties."1
How many beneficiaries, and how shares are split
- All accounts
On the death of the trustee, or of both trustees, all the funds are owned in equal shares by the persons then living who are named as beneficiaries, or their legal representatives. The agreement describes no percentage allocation.1
What Rockland Trust's agreement says about beneficiaries4
- Joint accounts
One or two account owners may act as trustees on an unwritten ("Totten") trust account.1
- What the owner keeps while living
During the owner's lifetime the account and its funds belong to the owner, and the beneficiaries have no interest in it and may not access it. The owner may change or remove beneficiaries, close the account or withdraw the funds at any time.1
- A designation and a will
Money in an unwritten trust account "will not be inherited by your heirs or controlled by your will."1
- Who can see the designation
The agreement states: "We have no obligation to notify any Beneficiary(ies) of the existence of any deposit account or the vesting of any interest in any deposit account."1
What Rockland Trust says about trust accounts3
- Whether a new account is opened
The Personal Deposit Account Agreement provides: "From time to time, we may allow a Trustee of a formal written trust to open a trust account."1
- Who signs for the trust
A trustee must be designated as a fiduciary on the signature card; otherwise the bank assumes the account is owned in an individual capacity.1
- Review of the trust document
Section 5 names "any Fiduciary agreement, trust agreement or affidavit of trust, court order or other document pursuant to which the deposit account is opened" as documents that, "when in a form acceptable to the Bank, will govern the deposit account."1
By opening the account the trustee holds the bank harmless for actions taken in reliance on the certification of trust. The bank is "under no obligation and have no duty to monitor the acts of any Trustee."1
Accounts handled elsewhere1
- Rockland Trust Investment Management Group
The bank's fiduciary arm; serves as trustee, co-trustee and agent for trustee2
Not in Rockland Trust's published guidance5
- What the owner provides to name a beneficiary
- A beneficiary designation form
- An online way to name a beneficiary
- Procedure for adding a beneficiary to an existing account
- Trust certification form
Sources
Data sourced from Rockland Trust primary sources (9 pages reviewed). How we research.
Download these Rockland Trust instructions
Download instructions for the whole estateA printable PDF with the steps, required documents, and contact details — verified against Rockland Trust primary sources. Bring it to the branch or keep it beside the phone.
Rockland Trust estate support
Rockland Trust Investment Management Group (through the Customer Information Center)
Phone
Hours
Website
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