Florida Statutes 655.82 – Pay-on-death accounts
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(1) As used in this section:
(a) “Account” means a contract of deposit between a depositor and an institution, including, but not limited to, a checking account, savings account, certificate of deposit, and share account.
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 655.82
- 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.
- Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
- Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
- person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
- Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(b) “Beneficiary” means a person named as one to whom sums on deposit in an account are payable on request after death of all parties or for whom a party is named as trustee.
(c) “Devisee” means any person designated in a will to receive a testamentary disposition of real or personal property.
(d) “Heirs” means those persons, including a surviving spouse, who are entitled, under the laws of this state regarding intestate succession, to the property of a decedent.
(e) “Multiple-party account” means an account payable on request to one or more of two or more parties, whether or not a right of survivorship is mentioned.
(f) “Party” means a person who, by the terms of an account, has a present right, subject to request, to payment from the account other than as a beneficiary.
(g) “Payment” means disbursement of sums on deposit, and includes withdrawal, payment to a party or third person pursuant to check or other request, and a pledge of sums on deposit by a party, or a setoff, reduction, or other disposition of all or part of an account pursuant to a pledge.
(h) “Pay-on-death designation” means the designation of:
1. A beneficiary in an account payable on request to one party during the party’s lifetime and on the party’s death to one or more beneficiaries, or to one or more parties during their lifetimes and on death of all of them to one or more beneficiaries; or
2. A beneficiary in an account in the name of one or more parties as trustee for one or more beneficiaries if the relationship is established by the terms of the account and there is no subject of the trust other than the sums on deposit in the account, whether or not payment to the beneficiary is mentioned.
(i) “Personal representative” means an executor, administrator, curator, successor personal representative, special administrator, or any other person who performs substantially the same function under the law governing their status.
(j) “Receive,” as it relates to notice to an institution, means receipt in the office or branch office of the institution in which the account is established, but if the terms of the account require notice at a particular place, in the place required.
(k) “Request” means a request for payment complying with all terms of the account, including special requirements concerning necessary signatures and regulations of the institution; but, for purposes of this section, if terms of the account condition payment on advance notice, a request for payment is treated as immediately effective and a notice of intent to withdraw is treated as a request for payment.
(l) “Successor” means any person, other than a creditor, who is entitled to property of a decedent under the decedent’s will or otherwise.
(m) “Sums on deposit” means the balance payable on an account, including interest and dividends earned, whether or not included in the current balance, and any deposit of life insurance proceeds added to the account by reason of death of a party.
(n) “Terms of the account” means the deposit agreement and other terms and conditions, including the form, of the contract of deposit.
(2) A beneficiary in an account having a pay-on-death designation has no right to sums on deposit during the lifetime of any party.
(3) In an account with a pay-on-death designation:
(a) On the death of one of two or more parties, sums on deposit in the account belong to the surviving party or parties.
(b) On the death of the sole party or the last survivor of two or more parties, sums on deposit belong to the surviving beneficiary or beneficiaries. If two or more beneficiaries survive, sums on deposit belong to them in equal and undivided shares, and, unless otherwise provided in a depository agreement written between December 31, 1994, and July 1, 2001, there is no right of survivorship in the event of death of a beneficiary thereafter. If no beneficiary survives, sums on deposit belong to the estate of the last surviving party.
(4) A pay-on-death designation in a multiple-party account without right of survivorship is ineffective. For purposes of this section, designation of an account as a tenancy in common establishes that the account is without right of survivorship.
(5) The ownership right of a surviving party or beneficiary, or of the decedent’s estate, in sums on deposit is subject to requests for payment made by a party before the party’s death, whether paid by the institution before or after death, or unpaid. The surviving party or beneficiary, or the decedent’s estate, is liable to the payee of an unpaid request for payment. The liability is limited to a proportionate share of the amount transferred under this section, to the extent necessary to discharge the request for payment.
(6) An institution, on request, may pay sums on deposit in an account with a pay-on-death designation to:
(a) One or more of the parties, whether or not another party is disabled, incapacitated, or deceased when the payment is requested and whether or not a party survives another party;
(b) The beneficiary or beneficiaries, if proof of death is presented to the institution showing that the beneficiary or beneficiaries survived all persons named as parties; or
(c) The personal representative, if any, or, if there is none, the heirs or devisees of a deceased party, if proof of death is presented to the institution showing that the deceased party was the survivor of all other persons named on the account either as a party or beneficiary.
(7) Payment made pursuant to this section discharges the institution from all claims for amounts so paid, whether or not the payment is consistent with the beneficial ownership of the account as between parties, beneficiaries, or their successors. Payment may be made whether or not a party or beneficiary is disabled, incapacitated, or deceased when payment is requested, received, or made.
(8) A beneficiary in an account at a credit union having a pay-on-death designation, unless the beneficiary is a member in her or his own right, may not be permitted to vote, obtain an extension of credit, or hold office or be required to pay an entrance or membership fee.
(9) The following is an example of the form of a contract of deposit that may be used to select a pay-on-death account for use by one or more parties:
SINGLE-PARTY ACCOUNT OR MULTIPLE-PARTY
ACCOUNT WITH PAY-ON-DEATH DESIGNATION
PARTIES (Name each party):      
OWNERSHIP (Select one and initial):
 SINGLE-PARTY ACCOUNT
 MULTIPLE-PARTY ACCOUNT
RIGHTS AT DEATH (Select one and initial):
 SINGLE-PARTY ACCOUNT
At death of the party, ownership passes as part of the party’s estate.
 SINGLE-PARTY ACCOUNT WITH A PAY-ON-DEATH DESIGNATION
(Name one or more beneficiaries):
     
At death of the party, ownership passes to the designated pay-on-death beneficiaries and is not part of the party’s estate.
 MULTIPLE-PARTY ACCOUNT WITH RIGHT OF SURVIVORSHIP
At death of a party, ownership passes to the surviving party or parties.
 MULTIPLE-PARTY ACCOUNT WITH RIGHT OF SURVIVORSHIP AND A PAY-ON-DEATH DESIGNATION
(Name one or more beneficiaries):
     
At death of the last surviving party, ownership passes to the designated pay-on-death beneficiaries and is not part of the last surviving party’s estate.