How does TreasuryDirect I-bond secondary owner with no transact rights take possession

[rprastein]

Jurisdiction

Other

This is a question about a jointly owned Federal government security, when the primary owner dies.

Here's the scenario:

The decedent (small estate, no probate) purchased a Series I Savings Bond for each of his children on the TreasuryDirect web site a couple of years before he died, each with himself as primary owner and a child as secondary owner. His POA helped him do this online, and granted the offspring transact rights on their bonds, to make it easy for them to take possession after he died. Two of the children never created online accounts with TreasuryDirect, and so it was not possible to grant them either View or Transact permissions.

TreasuryDirect has not yet been notified of the death. If the two remaining children create online accounts now, is it legal for the decedent's POA to go online and grant them transact rights, either before or instead of notifying TreasuryDirect of the decedent's death? It should not have any effect on who is taxed for the interest, since none of the bonds have yet been redeemed.

If this is a big no-no, what do the offspring have to do in order to take possession of their bonds? The web site is very difficult for them to navigate.

Thanks.

 

[flyingron]

A POA can't do *ANYTHING* after the death of the grantor. That authority ends with death.

Information on how to get the second owner/beneficiary is detailed in this article: I Bonds Beneficiary vs Second Owner in TreasuryDirect.

 

[rprastein]

A POA can't do *ANYTHING* after the death of the grantor. That authority ends with death.

Information on how to get the second owner/beneficiary is detailed in this article: I Bonds Beneficiary vs Second Owner in TreasuryDirect.

Thank you for the link. The critical piece of information I found there is this:
"In a sense, the second owner with Transact rights is like a beneficiary plus a power of attorney."

Those with transact rights and those without transact rights all have to go through the same 20+ week process with TreasuryDirect to get their bonds transferred to their own accounts.

Rebeccah

 

[Zigner]

If they are owners, then they own it.

 

[flyingron]

Thank you for the link. The critical piece of information I found there is this:
"In a sense, the second owner with Transact rights is like a beneficiary plus a power of attorney."

It's lousy wording. The secondary owner can act while the primary owner, but it's not really a "power of attorney" at all. It's more along the lines of an "OR" owner on some car titles.