Designate and Donate — Bank Accounts

How It Works

• Contact your bank to complete or update your P.O.D. (Payable on Death) form for your checking, savings accounts, and jointly-held accounts.
• Designate WHHA (Tax ID #52-0749685) to receive the remaining account balance after your passing.

Benefits

• You maintain control and use of the account balance during your lifetime.
• Receive a charitable deduction, which will reduce any estate or inheritance taxes.
• WHHA receives the balance of the accounts to use according to your wishes.

Checking and Savings Accounts: A Gift You Can Make

When you opened your checking and savings account, you signed paperwork describing how the bank account will work. Do you remember what will happen to the bank accounts after you pass away? P.O.D. is short for "Payable on Death." The P.O.D. form tells the bank who will receive the funds remaining in the bank account when the account owner passes away. Your loved ones and/or WHHA may be listed on the P.O.D. form. This is a meaningful way to begin your charitable legacy. It also keeps your bank accounts from becoming part of your estate, which may have to be administered by the probate system in your state.

Jointly Held Accounts

You may be a joint owner of the account or you may have made a loved one a joint owner. The joint-owner may make deposits and withdrawals during your lifetime. The joint owner may also have "rights of survivorship," meaning that he/she will automatically inherit the account when you pass away. Even if you have a joint account, you should complete the P.O.D. form to assure that the bank knows what to do with the remaining assets when both account holders have passed away. This step will also assure that the account may not become part of a time consuming and costly probate process.