I have a CIP question about accounts opened based on a court appointing our trust department as a "guardian of the estate". Specifically, the question involves a court order that we open an account for a disabled person who lacks legal capacity. There is no formal trust agreement. No individual comes in the bank to open the account, rather one of our trust representatives is called into court and accepts the appointment as “guardian of the estate”, directly from the judge. There are no signors on the account and no individual has authority to withdrawal funds. Our trust department, acting as guardian, pays bill for the disabled person, their living expenses, etc. based solely on the court approved plan. The definition of “customer” under the CIP states that the customer is either (A) A person that opens a new account; or (B) An individual who opens a new account for: (1) An individual who lacks legal capacity, such as a minor; or (2) An entity that is not a legal person, such as a civic club. In this scenario, we do not have an individual opening the account. So it’s not clear to me who our customer is.

There is no trust agreement, so the “trust” can not be our customer. We have no individual opening an account for an individual lacking legal capacity. The court is not opening the account. That pretty much leaves me with the disabled person. Do I consider the disabled person as my customer for CIP purposes in this example?

It appears that for CIP purposes your only "customer" will be the trust representative who is appointed guardian of the estate and authorized to open the account. There should be some type of written order from the court authorizing the action and authorizing that person to be signer on the account.