Ask Terry Questions Validating Bank Account Beneficiaries

Validating Bank Account Beneficiaries

By Terry Savage on February 05, 2016 | Wild Card

How do you make sure your bank will have the beneficiary you have chosen for your account when you are gone?
Even filling out the information when you opened the account can be lost or misplaced by the “new” employees
years later. Thank You, Terry

Terry Says:  Wait, you have it wrong.  Bank accounts don’t have beneficiaries. Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) do have beneficiaries.  So are you talking about an IRA that is invested in a bank CD?  If so, the bank will give you a form to name the beneficiary, and you should keep a copy of the signed form with your personal papers.  Don’t worry about it “getting lost” as it will be in the bank records and you will have a backup.

BUT, if you are just talking about a regular bank account, (not a retirement account), it should either be in joint name with someone else who will receive it  upon proof of your death. OR if the account is in your name only,   you should have a will and after the probate process of changing title to your assets,  the person you name in your will can get the money.   (A more sophisticated estate plan is a revocable living trust, which is a way of avoiding the probate process in distributing your assets.)

 

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