Totten trust

Meaning

Noun

• A form of trust created where one party (the settlor of the trust) places money in a bank account or security with instructions that, upon the settlor's death, whatever is in that account will pass to a named beneficiary.

Related

Similar words

• Payable on Death account
• poor man's will
• tentative trust

Origin

• Derived from Matter of Totten, 179 N.Y. 112 (1904), the case decided by the Court of Appeals of New York which established the legality of this practice.