Beneficiary Designation and Trust Account Rules at US Financial Institutions (2026)

Beneficiary designation and trust account rules at 286 US financial institutions: brokerages and IRA custodians, the 100 largest banks, 401(k), 403(b) and 457 recordkeepers, life and annuity insurers, the TSP, the Florida Retirement System and large state pensions, credit unions, HSA custodians, the next 100 banks by domestic deposits, every Florida-headquartered bank and every Florida credit union. 546 institutions were checked. 405 institution and account-type listings carry 3,218 rules (whether a trust can be named, how the trust must be named, per stirpes, banned wording, spousal consent, the default beneficiary, what happens when a beneficiary dies first, how to submit), and 203 listings carry 663 rules for opening an account in a trust's name. Every value is backed by a verbatim quote from the institution's own form or agreement, with the URL, form number and revision date. Read September 24 to 27, 2026.