Estate planning options at West Bank (Iowa)

West Bank offers payable-on-death accounts. When the last owner dies, the bank may pay what is left in the account to the beneficiaries who are then living.¹

Two or more beneficiaries who outlive every owner take the account in equal shares, with no survivorship among them.¹

While the owner is alive, a payable-on-death account belongs to the owner, who can use it as usual.¹

The owner can change the named beneficiaries whenever the owner wishes.¹

A beneficiary has no right to the account until every owner has died, and only if the beneficiary is then alive.¹

Before paying the beneficiaries, West Bank can take from the account any amount the owner or a beneficiary owes it.¹

West Bank accepts a power of attorney as the law requires and may ask the agent for a certification or a legal opinion. Accepting one does not end the owner's own access to the account.¹

Iowa law governs the agreement, and some Minnesota laws apply to certain accounts where the law requires it.¹

A trustee or other fiduciary has to be named in that role on the signature card. Without it, West Bank treats the account as an individual account.¹

For any trust or fiduciary account, West Bank may ask for more documents showing the relationship was created, such as a trust certificate.¹

A trust uses its own taxpayer identification number, though for certain grantor trusts the grantor's Social Security number may be used while the grantor is alive.²