2010 Pennsylvania Code
Title 20 - DECEDENTS, ESTATES AND FIDUCIARIES
Chapter 63 - Multiple-Party Accounts
6301 - Definitions.

                                CHAPTER 63
                         MULTIPLE-PARTY ACCOUNTS

     Sec.
     6301.  Definitions.
     6302.  Applicability of chapter.
     6303.  Ownership during lifetime.
     6304.  Right of survivorship.
     6305.  Form of account.
     6306.  Accounts and transfers nontestamentary.

        Enactment.  Chapter 63 was added July 9, 1976, P.L.547,
     No.134, effective September 1, 1976.
        Applicability.  Section 2 of Act 134 of 1976 provided that
     Chapter 63 shall apply to any account created after September 1,
     1976, and to any account existing prior to September 1, 1976,
     when a contract of deposit concerning it is executed after
     September 1, 1976.
     § 6301.  Definitions.
        The following words and phrases when used in this chapter
     shall have, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the
     meanings given to them in this section:
        "Account" means a contract of deposit of funds between a
     depositor and a financial institution, and includes a checking
     account, savings account, certificate of deposit, share account
     and other like arrangements.
        "Beneficiary" means a person named in a trust account as one
     for whom a party to the account is named as trustee.
        "Financial institution" means any organization authorized to
     do business under State or Federal laws relating to financial
     institutions, including, without limitation, banks and trust
     companies, savings banks, building and loan associations,
     savings and loan companies or associations and credit unions.
        "Joint account" means an account payable on request to one or
     more of two or more parties whether or not mention is made of
     any right of survivorship.
        "Multiple-party account" is either a joint account or a trust
     account. It does not include accounts established for deposit of
     funds of a partnership, joint venture, or other association for
     business purposes, or accounts controlled by one or more persons
     as the duly authorized agent or trustee for a corporation,
     unincorporated association, charitable or civic organization or
     a regular fiduciary or trust account where the relationship is
     established other than by deposit agreement.
        "Net contribution" of a party to a joint account as of any
     given time is the sum of all deposits thereto made by or for
     him, less all withdrawals made by or for him which have not been
     paid to or applied to the use of any other party, plus a pro
     rata share of any interest or dividends included in the current
     balance. The term includes, in addition, any proceeds of life
     insurance added to the account by reason of the death of the
     party whose net contribution is in question.
        "Party" means a person who, by the terms of the account, has
     a present right, subject to request, to payment from a multiple-
     party account. A beneficiary of a trust account is a party only
     after the account becomes payable to him by reason of his
     surviving the original trustee. Unless the context otherwise
     requires, it includes a guardian, personal representative,
     assignee, or attaching creditor, of a party. It also includes a
     person identified as a trustee of an account for another whether
     or not a beneficiary is named, but it does not include any named
     beneficiary unless he has a present right of withdrawal.
        "Payment" of a sum on deposit includes withdrawal, payment on
     check or other directive of a party, any pledge of a sum on
     deposit by a party, and any set-off or reduction or other
     disposition of all or part of an account pursuant to a pledge.
        "Request" means a proper request for withdrawal, or a check
     or order for payment, which complies with all conditions of the
     account, including special requirements concerning necessary
     signatures and regulations of the financial institution; but if
     the financial institution conditions withdrawal or payment on
     advance notice, for purposes of this chapter the request for
     withdrawal or payment is treated as immediately effective and a
     notice of intent to withdraw is treated as a request for
     withdrawal.
        "Sum on deposit" means the balance payable on a multiple-
     party account including interest, dividends, and in addition any
     life insurance proceeds added to the account by reason of the
     death of a party.
        "Trust account" means an account in the name of one or more
     parties as trustee for one or more beneficiaries where the
     relationship is established by the form of the account and the
     deposit agreement with the financial institution and there is no
     subject of the trust other than the sum on deposit in the
     account; it is not essential that payment to the beneficiary be
     mentioned in the deposit agreement. A trust account does not
     include a regular trust account under a testamentary trust or a
     trust agreement which has significance apart from the account,
     or a fiduciary account arising from a fiduciary relation such as
     attorney-client.
        "Withdrawal" includes payment to a third person pursuant to
     check or other directive of a party.