Financial institutions may pay any funds remaining on deposit in an account which belongs to a deceased depositor to the personal representative of the depositor’s estate under any of the following circumstances:

Terms Used In Washington Code 30A.22.180

  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
  • Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. Source: OCC
(1) When the decedent was the depositor on a single account; or
(2) When the decedent was a depositor on a joint account without right of survivorship or the only surviving depositor on a joint account with right of survivorship, and has not designated a trust or P.O.D. account beneficiary of the decedent’s interest, and the financial institution has received the proofs of death necessary to establish the deaths of the other depositors named on the account; or
(3) When the decedent was a beneficiary of a P.O.D. or trust account and the financial institution has received proofs of death of the beneficiary and all depositors to the account who, pursuant to the terms of the contract of deposit, were required to predecease the beneficiary; or
(4) When consent to the payment has been given in writing by all depositors and beneficiaries of the account; or
(5) When so ordered or directed by a superior court of the state or other court having jurisdiction over the matter.
[ 1981 c 192 § 18. Formerly RCW 30.22.180.]