How does a POD (payable on death) or TOD (transferable on death) account work?
You can have a POD or TOD beneficiary on most accounts. At your death the POD or TOD beneficiary inherits that account and takes precedence over your Will. This can create a problem when someone forgets that they have put a POD beneficiary on an account and later create a Will to direct the account to a different individual. There may also be some undesired results if multiple POD or TOD beneficiaries are listed. If one of the multiple beneficiaries predecease, the line of succession to that individual’s children will not usually continue as may be desired. A POD or TOD designation does not solve the problem of a disability.
