Personal Identification

• When you die, your beneficiaries or representatives of your estate must provide the bank with some form of personal identification. Federal laws require financial institutions to institute customer verification programs, but these laws do not specify the types of ID that institutions should accept. Generally, banks require you to produce at least one form of government-issued ID, such as a passport or driver's license. Some banks also require a secondary ID, which may take the form of an employee ID, student ID or credit card.
  
  

Death Certificate

• Your bank account remains open until your bank receives a certified copy of your death certificate. To prevent fraud, banks cannot accept photocopies, faxes or other kinds of duplicates of death certificates so you must produce a certified copy. If the account owner was a Social Security recipient, the Social Security Administration normally stops the account owner's direct deposit and notifies the bank of the account owner's death. However, the bank still requires a death certificate before anyone can close the account.
  
  

Estate

• When you die, your bank accounts form part of your estate and in most cases, your assets are subject to probate. The probate judge must appoint a personal representative or executor to your estate and when this occurs, the court produces letters of administration. These letters name the individual who has the authority to access and close your account on behalf of your estate. The bank cannot close your account or provide the executor with information pertaining to your account unless the executor produces copies of the letters of administration. These letters along with a death certificate and personal form of ID are sufficient documentation for the bank to proceed with the closing of the account.
  
  

Beneficiary

• If you list someone as a pay-on-death beneficiary on your bank account, then that person can close your account when you die. The POD beneficiary must provide the bank with a certified copy of the death certificate and a valid form of personal ID. POD beneficiaries do not need to produce letters of administration since POD accounts bypass probate. If you name someone as a beneficiary, but not as an actual POD beneficiary, then your account must go through probate since you cannot bypass probate without the POD designation. After probate, the estate executor can close the account.