How to Terminate a Family Trust Account

A family trust agreement manages the assets the family places into the trust for the benefit of the beneficiaries. The trustee manages the trust in accordance with the agreement's directions and rules. Family trusts often contain bank accounts, such as savings or checking, for money transactions and deposits. A family trust account may be closed by the trustee for various reasons, including to move the funds to another account or as part of the trust dissolution process. Regardless of the reason, the trustee must be the person who goes to the bank to terminate the account.

Decide where the account funds are going. If you're closing the account to move the money to another account owned by the same trust, you'll need the funds on a check payable to you as the trustee of the family trust. If you're closing the account because the trust is ending, the check should be in the name of the trust's owners or the person the trust owners chose.

Read More: How to Set Trust Checking Accounts

Gather the trust account paperwork. Include the papers sent by the bank when the account was opened.

Locate the original trust agreement. Although the bank should have the agreement on file, you may be asked for the original.

Go to the bank. Bring at least two forms identification — for example, state identification and an original birth certificate — the trust agreement, and the bank account papers. Tell the clerk you want to close the account. Follow the closure process set by the bank. Tell the clerk to whom he should make out the check for the trust account's balance.

Destroy any bank cards or checks associated with the account. Put the closed account statement with the rest of the trust paperwork.