Vermont § 14212 - Joint fiduciary accounts

§ 14212. Joint fiduciary accounts

• (a) Statement of purpose. The purpose of this section is to create a new form of joint
  financial account for which the account owner designates a fiduciary with authority
  to use monies in the account for the benefit and under the direction of the account
  owner and to enable the account owner as well as law enforcement to enforce the terms
  of the declaration of intent. (b) A “joint fiduciary account” is created by a deposit in a financial institution in
  the name of an owner naming a fiduciary or several fiduciaries when the owner has
  received a disclosure statement and executed a declaration of intent as provided in
  this section. An “owner” may be one or more joint owners of the account. Only the
  owner may designate a fiduciary at the time an account is opened, or may substitute
  or remove a fiduciary. A fiduciary shall act only in accordance with the declaration
  of intent and shall have authority to take all actions permitted by the terms and
  conditions of the account that are consistent with the declaration of intent. (c) The declaration of intent shall include date of execution; name and signature of owner;
  name and signature of fiduciary; any limitations on the power of the fiduciary to
  distribute or expend the funds; whether the fiduciary is to be paid and, if so, how
  much and on what basis; name and signature of two or more witnesses, neither of whom
  shall, at the time of execution, be the fiduciary and who attest to the sound mind
  and lack of duress on the owner; acknowledgment of receipt by the fiduciary of a copy
  of the declaration; and notice to the fiduciary that a withdrawal or expenditure of
  the funds in the joint fiduciary account that is not in accordance with the declaration
  of intent may result in criminal or civil liability. The financial institution that
  is to hold the joint fiduciary account shall provide its name and address and the
  number of the account. (d) A disclosure statement must accompany a declaration of intent. The disclosure statement
  and declaration of intent shall be in not less than 10- point type and in substantially
  the following form: (1) Disclosure Statement: INFORMATION CONCERNING JOINT FIDUCIARY ACCOUNTS A joint fiduciary account allows you to give direction on how you would like your
  money to be spent, at the same time as it allows you to give another person (or persons)
  authority to withdraw money or write checks on your account. If you open a joint fiduciary
  account, you are considered the “owner” of the account. The person or persons you
  authorize to access the account are called a “fiduciary.” The fiduciary shall handle
  your money in a way that is beneficial to you and to act according to your instructions.
  You, as the owner, always have the right to withdraw money from or to write checks
  on the account. One way to understand the advantages of a joint fiduciary account is to compare it
  to alternative forms of accounts. A regular joint account is an account in two or
  more names. Both people have the same authority to take and use the money. Thus, even
  if the money really belongs to one of the account holders, and the intent was that
  it would be used for that person, nothing can be done to stop the other account holder
  from taking and using all the money for other purposes. A sole account with multiple authorized signatures provides a little more protection
  than a regular joint account. At least it is clear with this account that the money
  really belongs to the person whose name is on the account, and does not belong to
  those who are only authorized to sign. (There are often tax reasons for a person to
  have a sole account with multiple authorized signatures rather than a joint account.)
  Nevertheless, nothing can be done to stop a person who is authorized to sign on the
  account from taking and using all the money for some purpose other than for the person
  whose money it is. A joint fiduciary account provides more protection for the owner than either of the
  other accounts because the owner makes a clear statement about how the money can be
  used, and the fiduciary has to follow those instructions or be subject to civil or
  criminal liability, or both. The fiduciary is also legally required to keep track
  of how the money is spent so the owner or another authorized person can verify that
  the money was used according to the instructions. How do you want your money to be spent? If you open a joint fiduciary account, you decide how you want your money to be spent.
  This statement should be broad enough to include everything you need and want, but
  not so broad as to go too far beyond that. Thus, you might want to instruct the fiduciary
  to spend your money on “all my basic living expenses and, if any money is left over,
  on gifts to my children and grandchildren, but not to exceed five percent of deposits
  per year.” What is included in the instructions to the fiduciary is completely up
  to you. If you want to pay your fiduciary for the services provided, or if you want
  your fiduciary to be able to make gifts to himself or herself or others, you must
  explicitly indicate that in your declaration of intent. Do you want special instructions on accountings? If you give no special instructions on accountings, the fiduciary must just keep track
  of how the money is spent and provide that information to you, your legal representative,
  a state agency or a court, but only if asked to do so. You might want to instruct
  your fiduciary to give a periodic accounting to you or to someone else. Thus, your
  instructions could include: “Give a copy of an accounting of your use of this account
  to me and to my attorney [or my daughter] every January.” If you want more than one fiduciary, what do you want their relationship to be? For some account owners, it is useful to name more than one fiduciary. For example,
  you might want your daughter to be the primary fiduciary, but your nephew to be the
  fiduciary when she goes to Florida every winter. You can name more than one fiduciary,
  but it is useful for you to give them instructions on when you want each to act. Those
  instructions dictate how they should act. However, the financial institution holding
  the account is under no obligation to make sure the fiduciaries act in accordance
  with your instructions; it will still accept either signature as valid for taking
  money out of the account. Are you trying to make sure your fiduciary takes certain actions, or just trying to
  give your fiduciary authority to act? Sometimes an account owner wants to use the account to make sure the fiduciary takes
  certain actions, such as paying the utility bills or paying the mortgage. The joint
  fiduciary account cannot guarantee for you that the fiduciary will act as you hope.
  The account simply authorizes the fiduciary to act, but does not oblige the fiduciary
  to act. The same is true for a regular joint account, as well as a sole account with
  multiple authorized signatures. For any of these accounts, if you want to make sure
  certain bills are paid, you and your creditor may agree to have the creditor automatically
  debit your account on a specific day of the month for the amount of your bill. Have you already given or do you want to give someone authority to make decisions
  for you beyond using the money in an account? Creating a joint fiduciary account will only give the fiduciary authority to act on
  your behalf with regard to the monies held in the account. It can be combined with
  a power of attorney or a durable power of attorney (one that lasts even if you are
  no longer able to make decisions for yourself). You can name the same person to be
  your fiduciary on a joint fiduciary account and your agent under a power of attorney,
  or you can name different people for each. In either event, it is useful to think
  through who should be named in each document and the relationship between them if
  you are going to name different people. If you have an attorney preparing a power
  of attorney, consider consulting with the attorney when opening a joint fiduciary
  account. THE JOINT FIDUCIARY ACCOUNT WILL NOT BE VALID UNLESS A DECLARATION OF INTENT IS SIGNED
  BY YOU IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO OR MORE WITNESSES WHO ARE NOT A NAMED FIDUCIARY, AND
  IS ALSO SIGNED BY THE FIDUCIARY. (2) Declaration of Intent: DECLARATION OF INTENT FOR JOINT FIDUCIARY ACCOUNT OWNER OF ACCOUNT I/We ____________ , hereby open a Joint Fiduciary Account. Following are my instructions to the fiduciary for how monies that are deposited
  into this joint fiduciary account shall be used: _________________________________________ _________________________________________ (Attach additional pages as necessary) I/We hereby appoint __________ of __________ (town of residence) and ______ of ______ (town of residence) to be the fiduciary(ies) on the account, and acknowledge that
  I/we have received a copy of “Information Concerning Joint Fiduciary Accounts”. Dated at _______ , this ___ day of ____ , 20__ . __________ Signature of Owner of Account Dated at _______ , this ___ day of ____ , 20__ . __________ Signature of Owner of Account WITNESSES I declare that the owner(s) appear(s) to be of sound mind and free from duress at
  the time of signing this Declaration of Intent for a joint fiduciary account, and
  that the owner(s) affirmed that he and/or she is (are) aware of the nature of the
  document and is (are) signing it freely and voluntarily. I further declare that I
  am not a person named as a fiduciary. __________________ Witness Signature ________ Dated: ______ Witness Address ________ Witness (Print Name) _______ __________________ Witness Signature ________ Dated: ______ Witness Address ________ Witness (Print Name) _______ FIDUCIARIES (Only one is required.) I declare that I am willing to act as the fiduciary on the Joint Fiduciary Account
  of __________ (owner(s)). I have read the Declaration of Intent and agree to use the money in the
  account only for the purposes stated in the Declaration. I further agree to maintain
  accurate records of my use of any monies in the account and to produce them upon request
  by the owner, by a legal representative of the owner, by a state agency, or by a court.
  I understand that my authority to act ceases when an owner changes the fiduciary,
  closes the account, or the last owner has died. I further acknowledge that I may be
  sued civilly if I intentionally or negligently fail to abide by the terms of the Declaration
  of Intent, or may be charged criminally if I intentionally fail to abide by its terms,
  or both. I acknowledge that I have received a copy of the Declaration of Intent. ____________ Fiduciary (Print Name) _________________________________________ Fiduciary Address __________________ Date _________________________________________ Fiduciary Signature If more than one: ____________ Fiduciary (Print Name) _________________________________________ Fiduciary Address __________________ Date _________________________________________ Fiduciary Signature For Financial Institution Use Only: Financial Institution Name: ____ Account Number: _________________________________________ Address: _________________________________________ (3) The Commissioner shall have the authority to adopt rules amending the disclosure statement
  and declaration of intent to reflect changes necessitated by a change in law or to
  make minor changes to the forms in this subsection. (e) The fiduciary shall maintain accurate records to permit an accounting of the acts
  of the fiduciary, and shall provide such records and accounting if requested to do
  so by the owner, by a legal representative of the owner, by the Attorney General,
  a State’s Attorney, or the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living
  if any has reason to believe the fiduciary is in violation of this section, or by
  a court of competent jurisdiction. (f) All rights, title, interest, and claim to a joint fiduciary account, and any additions
  or accumulations to the account, shall be the property of the owner of the account.
  An owner shall have authority to take all actions permitted by the terms and conditions
  of the account. The designation of a fiduciary shall not affect the title to funds
  in the account, and the owner shall not be considered to have made a gift to the fiduciary
  of all or any portion of the funds in the joint fiduciary account, or to any additions
  or accumulations to the account. The fiduciary shall have no right of survivorship
  in the account unless such right is specifically provided for in the account title. (g) The financial institution holding a joint fiduciary account shall retain a signed
  copy of the declaration of intent according to the financial institution’s records
  retention policy. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, no financial
  institution shall be responsible for monitoring transactions to or from any joint
  fiduciary account. A financial institution shall not be liable for withdrawals and
  payments made by the fiduciary unless an owner has notified the financial institution,
  in accordance with the terms and conditions of the account, to change the fiduciary,
  or has closed the account, or the financial institution has been notified that the
  last owner is deceased. (h) Any owner who sustains damages or injury as a result of a fiduciary’s action or inaction
  in violation of this section or the declaration of intent may sue the fiduciary for
  appropriate equitable relief, and may sue and recover from the fiduciary the amount
  of his or her damages, reasonable attorney’s fees, and exemplary damages not exceeding
  three times the owner’s damages. Nothing in this section shall be construed to abrogate
  any other causes of action or relief at law or equity to which the owner is entitled
  under other laws or at common law. (i) Whenever the Attorney General or a State’s Attorney has reason to believe that a fiduciary
  has used or is about to use the proceeds in a joint fiduciary account in violation
  of the declaration of intent, the Attorney General or a State’s Attorney may bring
  an action in the name of the State against such person to restrain by temporary or
  permanent injunction the use of funds from the account. The action may be brought
  in the Superior Court of the county in which the joint fiduciary account is located,
  where the owner resides, or where the fiduciary resides, has a place of business,
  or is doing business. In addition to the foregoing, the Attorney General or a State’s
  Attorney may request, and the Court is authorized to render, any other temporary or
  permanent relief, or both, as may be in the public interest, including closing the
  account, replacing the fiduciary, ordering restitution of cash to the account, imposing
  of a civil penalty of not more than $10,000.00 for each violation, and ordering reimbursement
  to the State of Vermont for the reasonable value of its services and expenses in investigating
  and prosecuting the action. In addition to the foregoing, the Attorney General or
  a State’s Attorney may seek relief under 33 V.S.A. chapter 69, subchapter 2 or may
  charge the fiduciary pursuant to 13 V.SA. § 2028. (Added 2001, No. 115 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2005, No. 174 (Adj. Sess.), § 13; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 296, eff. July 1, 2022.)