How Do I Write a Letter of Instruction to Midland States?

Send it to Midland States's estate/claims department: Midland States Bank, Customer Care Center, 1201 Network Centre Drive, Effingham, IL 62401. You can reach the department at 1-855-696-4352.

Midland States lists these among its required documents: Certified copy of the death certificate; Government-issued photo ID for the claimant; Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration from the Illinois circuit court (individually owned accounts with no POD designation); Illinois small estate affidavit, where the estate qualifies (personal estate not exceeding $100,000 and no real estate passing through probate). The prepared letter includes an enclosure checklist drawn from Midland States's recorded requirements.

Midland publishes no processing-time commitment for deposit account death claims. What it does publish: special needs trust distribution requests are reviewed and, if approved, paid within a short window after all supporting documentation is received (MTC says these are given priority because they usually cover immediate needs), and MTC states plainly that the time to administer and close an estate varies with the complexity of the estate and the design of the plan. Practically, a POD or joint-survivor claim clears once the branch has the death certificate and ID; an estate account waits on the Illinois circuit court to issue Letters, which is the long pole.

Midland States accepts a letter you write. We draft it for you, addressed to Midland States'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.