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

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Accounts and directions

A bank account can name beneficiaries in the opening directions. Section 81-5-62(a) covers checking, savings, time deposits and certificates of deposit. Savings associations have a parallel rule under Miss. Code Ann. § 81-12-145(a), and savings banks under Miss. Code Ann. § 81-14-363(1). The separate credit-union joint-deposit rule in Miss. Code Ann. § 81-13-58 addresses payment to surviving joint depositors.

Beneficiaries and surviving owners

A bank account may name an individual or an existing revocable trust evidenced by a written trust agreement. For the trust, § 81-5-62(e) calls for a trustee affidavit identifying the trust and current trustees and stating that it still exists. The death of one of several owners leaves the account in place for the survivors and beneficiaries under § 81-5-62(b).

Lifetime control and death balance

Owners can order withdrawals during life under § 81-5-62(a). Section 81-5-62(g) presumes a present beneficial interest for the beneficiary but places title to the remaining death balance in a beneficiary only if that beneficiary survives the owner. The statute protects the death transfer despite the absence of will-execution formalities under § 81-5-62(j).

Shares and payment

For a minor among several payees, § 81-5-62(c) calls each minor's share a “proportionate interest.” A bank may pay an individual beneficiary who is at least 16, less setoffs and charges, while younger payees use the statutory guardian or later-payment routes. Under § 81-5-62(i), payment before service of a restraining court order releases the bank to the extent paid.

What trips people up

A beneficiary's death before the owner, or termination of a named revocable trust, ends that payee's interest; it does not end the account if another named beneficiary survives. Miss. Code Ann. § 81-5-62(h) does not send the deceased payee's share automatically to that payee's representatives.

Common questions

Can a beneficiary demand the balance while the owner lives?

The owner may still direct payments and withdrawals under § 81-5-62(a). The statutory presumption of a beneficial interest in § 81-5-62(g) is tied to survival and the balance remaining at death.

Is a separate will needed to make the POD direction effective?

Section 81-5-62(j) says the beneficiary's death-transfer right is not impaired merely because it was not created with will-execution formalities.

Statutes and sources

Miss. Code Ann. §§ 81-5-62, 81-12-145 and 81-14-363: official enacted text in 2019 SB 2828, accessed 2026-10-08. Additional quoted wording and section histories appear in the Official Code Title 81 reproduction, accessed 2026-10-08.