How Do I Open an Estate Account at FirstBank?
FirstBank publishes no estate-account opening procedure. What its guidance does cover, and its estate services contacts.
Estate accounts at FirstBank
What to know at FirstBank
FirstBank Puerto Rico's primary sources are silent on opening a new deposit account titled to a succession/estate (cuenta de sucesión) by an albacea or judicially recognized estate representative. The current Deposit Accounts Agreement (English NNNS-1051-0725R re-confirmed 2026-07-17; Spanish NNNS-0816-0725R fetched 2026-07-16) names only natural or juridical persons as individual-account holders and contains no fiduciary, executor, albacea, or administrador-judicial account-opening clause; its only succession language subjects every account to succession and inheritance-tax law (Section 6, ITF) and governs payment of the deceased depositor's own items (Section 34, Death or Incapacity) — both about the DECEDENT's accounts, not a new estate account. The commercial-accounts pages (PR, English and Spanish) list DBA, corporate, Business Plus, and IOLTA accounts with no succession/estate entity type, and the services page's only deceased-customer content is the auto-loan title-transfer requirement. Under Puerto Rico's civil-law regime, banks commonly liquidate a decedent's accounts to the declared heirs (Declaratoria de Herederos plus the Hacienda relevo) rather than fund a bank-held estate account; nothing FirstBank publishes confirms or excludes opening one. Contact the FirstLine Solutions Center (787-725-2511) for current requirements.
This guide summarizes each bank's published estate-account requirements and is not legal or banking advice. Requirements may vary by state and account type.
Frequently Asked Questions
FirstBank publishes no estate-account opening procedure, and its guidance does not state whether estate accounts are offered. Its estate services team can confirm directly.
An estate account is a bank account titled to the estate itself — not to the person who died and not to the executor personally. The court-appointed executor or administrator opens it to deposit money owed to the estate (final paychecks, refunds, proceeds from closed accounts), pay the estate's debts and expenses, and distribute what remains. Checks made out to "the Estate of" can only be deposited into an account titled this way.
The estate is its own taxpayer, separate from the person who died. Banks open estate accounts under the estate's Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS, not the deceased's Social Security Number. The free EIN application prepares IRS Form SS-4 for the estate.
Sources
Data sourced from FirstBank primary sources (4 pages reviewed). How we research.
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