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

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Accounts and designation

Oregon’s insured-institution statute includes checking, savings, and certificates of deposit (§ 708A.455(1)); its parallel credit-union statute also expressly includes share accounts (§ 723.474(1)). Both define a POD account as payable to its original parties during life and one or more named payees after the last original party dies (§§ 708A.455(8)-(9), 723.474(8)-(9)). The account form and deposit agreement identify the parties and payees. Business and separate fiduciary accounts are excluded from the multiple-party-account definitions (§§ 708A.455(4), 723.474(4)).

Owner and beneficiary rights

The original parties own a POD account during life; the named payee does not (§§ 708A.465(2); § 723.478(2)). Where several original parties hold the account, lifetime beneficial interests follow net contributions unless clear and convincing evidence shows another intent (§§ 708A.465(1); § 723.478(1)). The beneficial-ownership rules are separate from payment rights under account terms (§§ 708A.460; § 723.476).

On an original joint party’s death, the remaining original parties are rebuttably presumed to take the balance before the POD payees (§§ 708A.470(1), (2)(a); 723.480(1), (2)(a)). Evidence of another intent or lack of capacity when the joint account was established can rebut that presumption (§§ 708A.470(6), 723.480(6)). On the sole or last original party’s death, surviving named payees take; if one named payee died first, the remaining named payees take (§§ 708A.470(2)(b), 723.480(2)(b)). Otherwise, the decedent’s rights transfer through the estate under the residual rule (§§ 708A.470(4), 723.480(4)).

If several payees survive, neither chapter specifies an initial numerical split. Each bars a later right of survivorship between those payees unless the account or deposit agreement expressly provides one (§§ 708A.470(2)(b), 723.480(2)(b)).

Change and institution payment

An original party may change account form by signed written order received during life, subject to the institution’s requirements and no later countermand (§§ 708A.475; § 723.482). A will cannot change a POD designation (§§ 708A.470(5), 723.480(5)).

The bank or credit union may pay an original party on request. It may pay a named POD payee, or a payee’s representative or heirs after that payee later dies, on proof that the payee survived all original parties (§§ 708A.495; § 723.490). Qualifying payment discharges the institution, but written stop notice from a party able to demand present payment limits that protection. Discharge does not resolve ownership disputes among claimants (§§ 708A.505; § 723.494).

What trips people up

Both chapters make surviving joint-owner priority a rebuttable presumption (§§ 708A.470(1), (6), 723.480(1), (6)). Bank and credit-union provisions each require evidence of a different intent or the deceased party’s lack of capacity to overcome it.

The death order of a payee matters. A payee who survives all original parties can have payment made to the payee’s heirs after a later death (§§ 708A.495; § 723.490). A payee who dies before the last original party does not take the POD balance; surviving named payees take under §§ 708A.470(2)(b) and 723.480(2)(b).

Common questions

Can a will change an Oregon POD payee? No. Both § 708A.470(5) and § 723.480(5) bar it.

Do two surviving POD payees have later survivorship? Only if account or deposit terms expressly provide it (§§ 708A.470(2)(b), 723.480(2)(b)).

Does payment settle a beneficial-ownership dispute? No. Sections 708A.505 and 723.494 protect qualifying institutional payments while preserving disputes among claimants.

Statutes and sources

The statutory passages and current official chapter URLs appear above; accessed October 8, 2026.