How Do I Open an Estate Account at GE Credit Union?
Yes. GE Credit Union opens estate accounts for a court-appointed executor or administrator. GE Credit Union's estate-account opening requirements: where the account can be opened, the documents to bring, and the EIN requirement.
Opening an estate account at GE Credit Union
Account type: Checking or savings account opened as the estate account ("We can open either a checking or a savings account as the estate account" -- A Guide for Settling GECU Accounts). GECU names no estate product, so which checking or savings product is used is not stated
Opening channels
- In a branch
- Not stated
- Online
- Not stated
- By phone
- Not stated
- By mail
- Not stated
- Appointment
- Not stated
- Co-executors
- Not stated
What it costs
- Opening deposit
- Not stated for estate accounts
- Monthly fee
- Not stated for estate accounts
- Fee waived at
- Not stated for estate accounts
- Other waivers
- None published
- Schedule that applies
- Current Business and Consumer Fee Schedule (Effective: March 1, 2025; 1000-0005-Rev-07.26); the product is not stated for estate accounts
- Other charges
- Inactive Account $6 per month after 365 calendar days without transaction activity
| Account | To open | Monthly fee | Waiver or condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simply Free Checking | $25.00 | $0 | |
| Choice Checking | $25.00 | $10.00 | $500 average daily balance |
| Amplified High-Yield Checking | $25.00 | $15.00 | $1,500 average daily balance |
| Simply Free Business Checking | $25.00 | $0 | |
| Premier Business Checking | $25.00 | $15 | $10,000 average daily balance |
Who can open it
- Existing customer
- Not stated
- Membership
- Required
- Out-of-state executor
- Not stated
- Death certificate
- Not stated
Documents to bring
- Employer Identification Number (EIN) for the estate
- The executor's GECU membership, or eligibility for it
Steps at GE Credit Union
- 1Call the Specialized Account Group at 513-204-4899 or 800-542-7093 x4899 (Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m. ET), or email specializedaccounts@gecreditunion.org. GECU's settlement guide sends estate-account questions there: "For more information on opening an estate account, please reach out to the Specialized Acount Group"
- 2Get the estate's EIN from the IRS first. The guide states: "An Employer Identification Number (EIN) will need to be established with the IRS for the estate"
- 3Confirm your own membership eligibility. The guide states: "To be eligible to establish an estate account, the Executor must be a GECU member or qualify for GECU membership." Eligibility paths are on the membership-eligibility page (eligible Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana counties, named employers and congregations, and family or household of a member)
- 4Bring your court appointment (Letters of Testamentary or Letters of Administration, or the Relief from Administration order) and your state identification. The Deposit Account Disclosures permit accounts opened "as executors, administrators, or conservators under court orders"
- 5Ask whether the estate account will be a checking or a savings account, and which product. GECU says it can be either, and does not say which product or which side of its fee schedule applies
- 6Keep the account active. GECU's $6 monthly inactivity fee has no estate exemption, and an account whose fees reduce it to zero may be closed without further notice
Once it is open
- Online banking
- Not stated
- Checks
- Not stated
- Debit card
- Not stated
- Mobile deposit
- Not stated
- Deceased's balances
- Not stated
What to know at GE Credit Union
GECU is one of the few credit unions that publishes an estate-account paragraph of its own. Its settlement guide ("A Guide for Settling GECU Accounts", linked from the deceased-accounts page) says GECU can open "either a checking or a savings account as the estate account", that an EIN "will need to be established with the IRS for the estate", and that "the Executor must be a GECU member or qualify for GECU membership" -- so membership is the executor's, not the estate's or the decedent's. The guide also recommends settling the deceased member's accounts within 90 days. What GECU does not publish: an estate-account product, an opening channel, an appointment rule, a co-fiduciary rule, a Letters recency window, or a statement of how the decedent's balances reach the estate account (they are "disbursed to the deceased member's estate"). One estate-scoped restriction is in the online banking terms: estate accounts are not eligible for the Online Money Movement (external funds transfer) service. The team that handles this is named the Specialized Account Group in the guide; the deceased-accounts page gives the same phone line without a team name. The Deposit Account Disclosures also disclaim oversight of a fiduciary account: "by merely opening such an account, we are not acting in the capacity of a trustee in connection with the trust nor do we undertake any obligation to monitor or enforce the terms of the trust or letters." Route, 2026-09-17: www.gecreditunion.org HTML now serves clean 200s to browser-UA curl with --http1.1 (the default HTTP/2 request 403s with "Just a moment..."); the /gecreditunion/media/PDF/ store serves plain browser-UA curl; the issuu guide text is not in the issuu HTML, but its page images at image.isu.pub serve to curl and OCR cleanly. NCUA Credit Union Locator re-checked 2026-09-17: charter 68574 "GENERAL ELECTRIC", Active, FISCU, Ohio, 10485 Reading Rd, Cincinnati (name search returns 2, the other being the separate charter 4043 "GENERAL ELECTRIC EMPLOYEES"; nonsense query 0).
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
GE Credit Union's published guidance does not state whether an estate account can be opened online.
GE Credit Union asks for: Employer Identification Number (EIN) for the estate; The executor's GECU membership, or eligibility for it.
Yes. GE Credit Union opens the account under the estate's Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS — the deceased's Social Security Number cannot be used. Getting the EIN is the first step.
GE Credit Union's published guidance does not state a co-executor appearance rule. When more than one executor or administrator was appointed, confirm with GE Credit Union whether all must sign or appear.
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 GE Credit Union primary sources (11 pages reviewed). How we research.
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