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| "PAY-ON-DEATH" BANK ACCOUNT A bank account can be designed to belong to one person during his or her life and, subsequently, to pay to another person, trust or institution ... at the death of the original owner. Such an account is often called a Pay-on-Death (POD) bank account. In many instances, this is an excellent estate planning device. Suppose that you have a substantial savings account and that you have one heir that you want to receive that account at your death. You merely go to the bank and tell the officer that you want to own the account during your life ... but, that you want a certain person, whom you then name, to be the owner when you die. The bank officer will give you the proper documentation, generally at no cost. Unfortunately, many planners are unaware of the POD account. Consequently, they often endanger their assets by using other means. Often, they place their children's names on bank accounts as joint owners. While joint ownership may be desirable in many instances, it has one major drawback. If your child, the other joint owner, were to be sued and if a judgment were granted against your child, your bank account could be at risk. So, it is often better to use the POD account than to use joint ownership. With the POD account, the second owner has no legal interest in the account as long as the first owner is alive. Having no legal interest in the account, the second owner cannot lose the account to a lawsuit during the first owner's life. You can include our institution in your estate plan by means of the POD bank account. If you have one account that you want to go to charity at your death, just go to the bank and tell the officer that you want to own the bank account during your life; but, that, at your death, you want the bank account to belong to "The Foundation". It will be "POD to "The Foundation"." During your life, you will have full access to the account. Indeed, you can spend it all if you need to. But, any funds left in the account at your death can be used for our charitable purposes. |
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