Payable-on-Death Deposit-Account Beneficiary Rules in Massachusetts

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Accounts, instruments and payees

A written nonprobate death-transfer provision in an account or deposit agreement is nontestamentary under ch. 190B, § 6-101(a). Banks may accept demand, time and other deposits on agreed terms (ch. 167D, § 3). Under ch. 167D, § 3(b), a separate bank trust deposit may be made by one or two persons for identified natural persons, trusts, or an IRS-recognized charity or nonprofit. The names and identifying information must be disclosed, and the account is credited to the depositors as trustees. Credit-union members may hold shares or make deposits, singly or jointly, under ch. 171, § 30; the general written-transfer provision is the relevant death-transfer text for their deposit contracts.

Lifetime and joint-owner rights

ch. 190B, § 6-101(b)(1) addresses money controlled or owned by the decedent before death and directs its post-death payment under a qualifying written provision. A bank trust deposit may pay its trustee, or either of two trustees, during life (ch. 167D, § 3(b)). For a separate joint bank deposit, ch. 167D, § 3(a) authorizes payment to surviving owners. The trust-deposit subsection instead directs payment to identified surviving payees after the last trustee dies, provided the bank has received no further written notice of a trust's terms.

Beneficiary survival and several payees

For the trust-deposit route, ch. 167D, § 3(b) gives the balance in equal portions to identified persons or entities surviving the last trustee, or their legal representatives. A POD designation also requires checking ch. 190B, § 2-706(a): if a beneficiary who was a grandparent or descendant of a grandparent fails to survive the decedent and leaves surviving descendants, the section may create a substitute gift. For an individually named beneficiary, those descendants take per capita at each generation; class gifts have their own allocation rule. The written instrument supplies other share directions.

Changing a designation or using a will

ch. 190B, § 6-101(b)(1) permits a person to be designated in the original instrument or a separate writing, including a will, if the original document specifically provides for disposition under the later instrument or the later writing has independent significance. It does not make every will a change to every deposit agreement. Read the particular written account terms.

Payment and discharge

Under ch. 167D, § 3(b), each claimant to a bank trust deposit provides identification and other information the bank requests; compliant withdrawal or payment fully discharges the bank. For a POD payee who is subject to a substitute-gift claim, ch. 190B, § 2-706(b)(1) protects a payor that pays under the beneficiary designation before receiving written notice of the claim, while leaving the recipient exposed to the claim. Subsection (b)(2) specifies how written notice reaches the payor and permits payment into court.

What trips people up

The bank trust deposit in ch. 167D, § 3(b) and a general written POD transfer under ch. 190B, § 6-101 are distinct routes. The statutory substitute-gift rule in ch. 190B, § 2-706(a) means a deceased related payee's descendants may have rights even when the account paperwork still names that payee.

Common questions

Can a charity be named on a bank trust deposit? Yes, if it is an IRS-recognized charity or nonprofit within ch. 167D, § 3(b).

Can a later will name the death payee? ch. 190B, § 6-101(b)(1) permits that only under the stated original-document or independent-significance conditions.

Statutes and sources

The verbatim statutory passages and official Massachusetts legislature URLs appear in the statutes entries above; each was accessed October 8, 2026.