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

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Accounts covered and designation

§ 6.2-604 covers checking, savings, certificate-of-deposit, share and similar deposit accounts. Its definition of financial institution expressly includes credit unions. A POD account is payable on request to one or more original payees during life and to one or more named POD payees after all original payees die. A request must comply with the account's signature and institution rules.

Lifetime rights and joint owners

§ 6.2-606(B) gives the original payee beneficial ownership during life, and § 6.2-604 does not treat a POD payee as a party with present withdrawal rights. When one of several original payees dies, § 6.2-608(B)(1) applies the joint-account survivorship rule in subsection (A). The POD payees' rights attach after the sole or last original payee dies (§ 6.2-608(B)(2)).

Beneficiary survival and several payees

A surviving POD payee takes when another named payee died before the last original payee (§ 6.2-608(B)(2)). If multiple payees survive that owner, no later survivorship arises among them unless the account or deposit agreement expressly provides it. The section does not state an equal-share fraction. § 6.2-614 permits payment to the last original payee's representative or heirs under the Virginia Small Estate Act if proof shows that original payee survived everyone else named on the account.

Changing a designation or using a will

§ 6.2-609 fixes death rights by the account's form at death. A party can change the form, or stop or vary payment, by a signed written order delivered to the institution during the party's life and not countermanded by a later written order. A will cannot change the POD designation (§ 6.2-608(E)); § 6.2-610 treats the statutory transfer as arising from the account contract, not as a testamentary transfer.

Payment, proof and discharge

§ 6.2-614 lets an original party request payment. A POD payee, or a deceased payee's representative or heirs under the Virginia Small Estate Act, may request payment upon proof that the payee survived all original parties. § 6.2-604 includes a death certificate, estate qualification certificate and authenticated governmental death record in “proof of death.” Authorized payment discharges the institution as to the amount paid under § 6.2-616(A), but subsection (C) leaves beneficial ownership disputes between claimants open. A written stop-payment notice limits that discharge under subsection (B).

What trips people up

An institution's discharge for paying a POD claimant under § 6.2-616 does not decide who owns the funds as between competing claimants. The account terms may also create a later survivorship right among POD payees under § 6.2-608(B)(2), so read them before dividing an account after a payee's death.

Common questions

Are credit-union share accounts covered? Yes. § 6.2-604 includes share accounts and expressly names credit unions among financial institutions.

Can a will substitute a different POD payee? No. § 6.2-608(E) bars that change by will.

Statutes and sources

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