Deceased customer - uncashed CD interest checks
Answer by John Burnett and Ken Golliher, BOL Gurus Guru Bios
Question: I had a customer who is now deceased who had several CD's with our bank. Some were joint with her daughter and others are POD for her daughter or for her son. We have several CD interest checks that were issued prior to her death are still outstanding and need to be reissued or escheated. My question is for those CD interest checks made payable to the CD owner, who has since passed away, should the checks be reissued to the POD or the CD account or to her estate?
Answer by John Burnett:
If the checks payable to the deceased are to be reissued, make them payable to the estate of the deceased. I don't believe they are part of the account that devolves to the beneficiary of a POD designation.
Answer by Ken Golliher:
I agree with John, but we are both offering you a judgment call on delivering the checks on the joint accounts to the daughter; they could also be delivered to the personal representative of the decedent's estate. State laws often acknowledge rights of survivorship in bank accounts, but not in checks. The distinction here is that, prior to her mother's death, the daughter could have cashed the checks that were payable to her mother or her. She could not have cashed the checks on the POD accounts.
My suggestion is slightly different on the method for reissuing the checks: reissue them the way they were originally formatted; e.g. "Jane Doe or Sally Doe" and "Jane Doe POD Sally Doe." Deliver the or checks to the daughter and the POD checks to the personal representative of the decedent's estate. (The personal representative can properly endorse a check made payable to the decedent.)
However, make certain the personal representative is aware of all the checks.
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