How Do I Write a Letter of Instruction to Rockland Trust?

Send it to Rockland Trust's estate/claims department: Rockland Trust, ATTN: Deposit Services, 288 Union Street, Rockland, MA 02370. You can reach the department at 508-732-7072.

Rockland Trust lists these among its required documents: Certified copy of the death certificate; Government-issued photo ID for the claimant (beneficiary, surviving joint owner, trustee, or Personal Representative); Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, for an individually titled account with no death beneficiary and no surviving joint owner; Massachusetts voluntary administration statement under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, 3-1201, where the estate is entirely personal property valued at $25,000 or less plus one motor vehicle (filed at least thirty days after death) — accepted in place of Letters for a qualifying small estate. The prepared letter includes an enclosure checklist drawn from Rockland Trust's recorded requirements.

Varies by titling. A named Totten-trust beneficiary or a surviving joint owner presenting a certified death certificate and photo ID is generally the fastest path. A probate-dependent claim waits on the Probate and Family Court issuing Letters, or on the thirty-day waiting period before a Massachusetts voluntary administration statement can be filed under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, 3-1201.

Rockland Trust accepts a letter you write. We draft it for you, addressed to Rockland Trust'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.