How Do I Write a Letter of Instruction to HomeStreet?

Send it to HomeStreet's estate/claims department: Mechanics Bank, PO Box 8070, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. You can reach the department at 800-797-6324.

HomeStreet lists these among its required documents: Certified copy of the death certificate; Government-issued photo ID for the claimant (beneficiary, surviving owner, successor trustee, or personal representative); Account numbers for the decedent's accounts, if known (they did not change in the merger conversion); Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, where the account passes through the estate. The prepared letter includes an enclosure checklist drawn from HomeStreet's recorded requirements.

A clean P.O.D., Totten Trust, or joint-survivor claim is generally settled once the certified death certificate and ID are presented, typically within 5-10 business days. Estate claims track the court: Washington Letters take several weeks, while the RCW 11.62.010 small estate affidavit needs no court appointment but does require the 40-day wait and the 10-day notice to other successors. A contested claim can be frozen pending proof satisfactory to the bank.

HomeStreet accepts a letter you write. We draft it for you, addressed to HomeStreet's verified claims department with the required enclosures.

It depends on the capacity you are acting in. An executor or administrator encloses Letters Testamentary (when there is a will) or Letters of Administration (when there is not); a successor trustee encloses a certificate of trust; a successor under a small estate encloses that state’s small estate affidavit. The prepared letter lists the proof-of-authority document for your role alongside the institution’s required documents.

A letter of instruction is the written request an institution asks for when settling a deceased customer’s account. It identifies the decedent and the account, states the capacity you are acting in, and tells the institution what to do with the account.