Q: My Mom died and left me POD of her bank acct. My sister is trustee say I need to give her the money.
The bank says the acct. is not a trust acct. If my sister is the Trustee and the acct. is part of the trust wouldn't she be able to get the funds from the acct. herself ?
A: If the account is a Payable On Death account and you are named as the sole beneficiary, you should be able to get the money by showing the bank your mother's death certificate. Since the account is not in your mother's trust, your sister cannot access it in her capacity as trustee (unless the trust document or another legal document authorizes her to do so.) If your sister is also a beneficiary of the POD account, she can also access the account in her capacity as a beneficiary. I hope that helps!
A: The pay on death designation trumps the terms of the trust. So regardless of what the trust says the asset passes to you outside of the trust and outside of probate. All that is generally required in order for the bank to distribute the asset to the POD beneficiary is copy of the death certificate.
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