Establishing Conservatorship Accounts

A conservatorship account is established by the court when a person is legally incapacitated and unable to manage their financial affairs. The court-appointed conservator of a person's financial affairs can be an individual or a conservatorship services organization that manages the financial affairs of the incapacitated person.

Managing Conservatorship Accounts

To open a conservatorship account or convert an existing account to a conservatorship account, you will need to provide the following required documents for review:

• One of the following completed form packets:
  
  • Conservatorship Account Application and Change Request
  • Professional Conservatorship Account Application and Change Request
• One of the following completed forms:
  
  • Conservator Instructions and Affidavit
  • Professional Conservator Instructions and Affidavit
• Copy of Letters of Conservatorship or Letters of Office.
• Certified copy of the court order appointing conservator — a filed copy is acceptable if it can be verified on the county court's website.
• Unsigned Receipt of Funds (if conservatorship contains a blocked account requirement).
• Certified copy of the court order showing the out-of-state conservator has been registered in Washington state (if applicable) — a filed copy is acceptable if it can be verified on the county court's website. 

Returning Documents to BECU

You have two ways to submit the required application and supporting documents:

• In person at any BECU location.
• Mail to:
  
  BECU
  Account Servicing M/S 1094-2
  P.O. Box 97050
  Seattle, WA 98124-9750

Application Process

The application process takes approximately one week after we receive the required documents.

• The Social Security number (SSN) or Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) is required for both the court-appointed conservator(s) and the legally incapacitated person.
• The court-appointed conservator of a legally incapacitated person's estate is an individual or a conservatorship services organization that manages the financial affairs of the incapacitated person. Note: BECU only reviews for conservatorship of the incapacitated person's estate, not guardianship of the person. Guardianship over the person would not provide any financial powers. 
• A monthly statement is generated for the conservatorship accounts. It is mailed in the tax owner's name, in care of the conservator, to the primary address on file.
• Available conservatorship account types: Member Share Savings, Savings, Checking, Money Market, and Certificate of Deposit (CD). A Member Share Savings account is required to establish membership for the conservatorship.
• Conservatorship accounts cannot be established immediately because they require a document review before they can be set up.
• If the member had loans before they were deemed legally incapacitated and represented by a court-appointed conservator:
• BECU will revoke limits on any active personal line of credit or credit card accounts, with or without balances, so that funds can no longer be advanced.
• Existing home equity line of credit loans can only be closed if directed by the conservator or if the borrower fails to meet the terms of repayment.
• Having a conservator assigned does not release the incapacitated person from any loan contracts that they entered into prior to being declared incapacitated by the court.
• Their estate is required to make the loan payments on existing loans until these loans are paid in full.
• Accounts can be set up with a single conservator with multiple co-conservators. In the case of multiple co-conservators, in order to set up an account, the court will have had to grant the authority for the co-conservators to act independently of each other.
• While BECU will accept non-certified copies of your court documents, we must be able to verify that they have been filed with the appropriate court.
• If the conservatorship has been established outside of Washington state, additional documents will be required.
• Please consult a Washington state attorney to assist you with registering the conservatorship with a Washington state court and provide the copy of the court order showing the conservatorship has been registered.