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

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Accounts and beneficiaries

Utah's deposit-account definition includes checking, savings, certificates of deposit and share accounts; the financial-institution definition includes banks and credit unions (§ 75-6-101(1), (3)). A POD account is payable to its original party or parties during life and to one or more designated payees after death (§ 75-6-101(10)-(11)). The statute does not give a separate signature form for the initial designation; the account terms determine the payment request's conditions (§ 75-6-101(12)).

Lifetime ownership and death order

The original party owns a POD account during life, and a named POD payee does not (§ 75-6-103(2)). The statute separates beneficial ownership from the institution's contractual withdrawal rules (§ 75-6-102). On one of several original parties' deaths, the joint-account survivorship rule controls; clear and convincing evidence of a different intention can alter the default (§ 75-6-104(1), (2)(a)). Once the sole or last original party dies, surviving POD payees take (§ 75-6-104(2)(b)).

If a payee died before that original party, surviving named payees take instead. When no payee survives, § 75-6-104(4)'s residual rule returns the deceased party's rights to the estate. Among several surviving payees, § 75-6-104(2)(b) does not state an initial percentage; it says that later survivorship between those payees requires express account or deposit terms.

Changing the account and collecting

A party may change account form or stop or vary payment by a signed written order that the institution receives during the party's lifetime and that the same party has not countermanded (§ 75-6-105). A will cannot change a POD designation (§ 75-6-104(5)). The institution may pay an original party on request. Payment to a POD payee, or to that payee's representative or heirs after the payee later dies, requires proof of death showing the payee survived every original party (§ 75-6-110).

What trips people up

Qualifying payment discharges the financial institution even if it differs from beneficial ownership among claimants. The protection stops after written notice from a party able to request present payment that withdrawals under the account terms should be blocked; the statute preserves ownership disputes among claimants (§ 75-6-112).

Common questions

Can a POD payee demand the account balance during the owner's life? A named payee does not own the POD balance while the original party lives (§ 75-6-103(2)); withdrawal power follows the account contract (§ 75-6-102).

Do multiple surviving payees automatically inherit each other's shares later? No. Express account or deposit terms are required for that later survivorship (§ 75-6-104(2)(b)).

Does the institution need a death certificate? The statute calls for proof of death showing the payee survived all original parties (§ 75-6-110). Its definition includes a death certificate or another qualifying record or report (§ 75-6-101(9)).

Statutes and sources

The quoted statutory passages, official PDF link and access dates appear in the source entries above.