How Do I Open an Estate Account at Hancock Whitney?

Hancock Whitney's estate-account opening requirements: where the account can be opened, the documents to bring, and the EIN requirement.

Select a bank

Opening an estate account at Hancock Whitney

Where to open it

Not stated — contact Hancock Whitney

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

Documents to bring

Court-issued letters appointing the fiduciary -- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration (in Louisiana, the letters issued to the succession representative). The Deposit Agreement's Fiduciary Account clause covers executors and administrators "appointed or recognized under court orders" and refers to the "Court issued letters appointing any such fiduciary"
Taxpayer identification number for the account, certified as correct -- the Deposit Agreement's Backup Withholding/TIN Certification clause requires a TIN and states the bank "may refuse to open your account" if the appropriate TIN is not supplied

What to know at Hancock Whitney

Hancock Whitney publishes no estate-account or fiduciary-account opening page, and its Help Center has no estate or deceased-account topic. The authority that the bank opens estate accounts is the "Fiduciary Account" clause of the Deposit Agreement (hubfs/Forms/Deposit-Agreement.pdf, a Wolters Kluwer Bankers Systems form), which expressly names executors and administrators -- and "tutors," the Louisiana guardianship office, reflecting the bank's civil-law market -- as fiduciaries who may open and maintain accounts. The same clause disclaims any bank duty to monitor or enforce the terms of the trust or the court-issued letters. No opening channel is stated anywhere: the online application (hancockwhitney.com/apply-online) lists only personal consumer products (checking, savings, money market, CD, loans) with no fiduciary or estate option and no stated exclusion, so every channel is recorded as unclear rather than false. On the EIN: the TIN-certification clause requires the account's TIN at opening and permits the bank to refuse the account without it, but it also allows the bank to defer backup withholding "if you certify that you do not have a TIN but have applied for one," and it nowhere states an estate-specific EIN-in-hand rule -- so einRequiredBeforeOpening is unclear. No estate-specific account types, minimum deposit, letters-recency window, appointment requirement, co-fiduciary signing rule, or opening timeline is published.

Estate services: 1-800-651-9227View Hancock Whitney's guidance

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

Hancock Whitney's published guidance does not state whether an estate account can be opened online.

Hancock Whitney asks for: Court-issued letters appointing the fiduciary -- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration (in Louisiana, the letters issued to the succession representative). The Deposit Agreement's Fiduciary Account clause covers executors and administrators "appointed or recognized under court orders" and refers to the "Court issued letters appointing any such fiduciary"; Taxpayer identification number for the account, certified as correct -- the Deposit Agreement's Backup Withholding/TIN Certification clause requires a TIN and states the bank "may refuse to open your account" if the appropriate TIN is not supplied.

Hancock Whitney's published guidance does not state a co-executor appearance rule. When more than one executor or administrator was appointed, confirm with Hancock Whitney whether all must attend.

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.