Nonprobate Transfers in Idaho: Joint, POD, and TOD Assets

Part of my Idaho Wills & Probate Overview.

By Ronald W. Brilliant, Attorney at Law · Licensed in Idaho, Nevada & California · Last reviewed: September 2026 against the Idaho Code as posted by the Idaho Legislature (July 1, 2026)

In This TopicIdaho Wills & ProbateTopic 12 of 15: Nonprobate Transfers

Not everything a person owns passes through probate. Chapter 6 of Idaho’s Uniform Probate Code, titled “Nonprobate Transfers,” covers joint accounts, pay-on-death (P.O.D.) accounts, trust accounts, transfer-on-death (TOD) securities, other contracts that name who gets paid at death, and community property held with a right of survivorship.

These rules matter to anyone who owns accounts or securities with a named survivor or beneficiary, and to families sorting out what belongs to the estate after a death. Transfers that happen under the account survivorship rules are effective because of the account contract and the statute, and are not treated as testamentary or subject to chapters 1 through 4 of the probate code (Idaho Code § 15-6-106).

Types of Multiple-Party Accounts

An “account” is a contract of deposit between a depositor and a financial institution, including checking, savings, certificate of deposit, and share accounts (Idaho Code § 15-6-101(1)). A “multiple-party account” is one of three types (§ 15-6-101(5)):

• Joint account: payable on request to one or more of two or more parties, whether or not it mentions a right of survivorship (§ 15-6-101(4)).
• P.O.D. account: payable to one person (or several people) during life, and on the death of that person (or all of them) to one or more “P.O.D. payees” (§ 15-6-101(10)).
• Trust account: an account in the name of one or more parties as trustee for one or more beneficiaries, where the relationship is set up by the form of the account and the deposit agreement, and the only subject of the trust is the money in the account (§ 15-6-101(14)).

Business accounts for a partnership, joint venture, or other business association, and accounts run by agents or trustees for a corporation or other organization, are not multiple-party accounts (§ 15-6-101(5)). A trust account also does not include a regular trust account under a testamentary trust or a trust agreement that has significance apart from the account (§ 15-6-101(14)).

Who Owns the Account During Life and at Death

The ownership rules below matter only in disputes between the parties, P.O.D. payees, or beneficiaries and their creditors and other successors. They have no bearing on who has the power to withdraw under the account contract (Idaho Code § 15-6-102).

Account type	During the parties’ lifetimes	At death
Joint account	Belongs to the parties in proportion to each one’s net contributions, unless there is clear and convincing evidence of a different intent (§ 15-6-103(a)).	Money left on deposit belongs to the surviving party or parties as against the decedent’s estate, if an intent to give the account can be shown by the survivors (§ 15-6-104(a)).
P.O.D. account	Belongs to the original payee, not the P.O.D. payee (§ 15-6-103(b)).	Money left on deposit belongs to the surviving P.O.D. payee or payees (§ 15-6-104(b)).
Trust account	Belongs beneficially to the trustee, unless the account terms or deposit agreement show a contrary intent or there is other clear and convincing evidence of an irrevocable trust (§ 15-6-103(c)).	Money left on deposit belongs to the surviving named beneficiaries, unless there is clear and convincing evidence of a contrary intent (§ 15-6-104(c)).

A party’s “net contribution” is generally the deposits made by or for that party, less withdrawals made by or for that party that were not paid to or used for another party, plus a pro rata share of interest or dividends (§ 15-6-101(6)). If two or more joint account parties survive, the right of survivorship continues between them (§ 15-6-104(a)).

If two or more P.O.D. payees or trust account beneficiaries survive, there is no right of survivorship between them after that unless the account terms or deposit agreement expressly provide for it (§ 15-6-104(b), (c)). In other cases, a party’s death just passes the decedent’s rights as part of his estate (§ 15-6-104(d)).

A Will Cannot Change These Designations

A right of survivorship arising from the account terms or the statute (if an intent to give can be shown), a trust account beneficiary designation, or a P.O.D. payee designation cannot be changed by will (Idaho Code § 15-6-104(e)). To learn more about how wills work, see how Idaho wills are interpreted.

Instead, survivorship rights are determined by the form of the account at a party’s death (Idaho Code § 15-6-105). The form may be changed by a written order to the financial institution that is signed by a party, received during that party’s lifetime, and not countermanded by another written order of the same party during his lifetime (§ 15-6-105).

Community Property in Accounts

Depositing community property in an account does not change its community character or community rights in it (Idaho Code § 15-6-114). But a right of survivorship between spouses that arises from the account terms or chapter 6 may not be altered by will (§ 15-6-114).

Protections for Banks and Credit Unions

A multiple-party account may be paid, on request, to any one or more of the parties, and the financial institution does not have to look into where deposits came from or how withdrawals will be used (Idaho Code § 15-6-108). Joint account funds may be paid to any party even if another party is incapacitated or deceased (§ 15-6-109).

After a death, the statute spells out what proof of death a financial institution needs before paying a survivor, P.O.D. payee, beneficiary, or a deceased party’s personal representative or heirs (§§ 15-6-109 to 15-6-111).

Payments made under these rules discharge the financial institution, even if the payment does not match who actually owns the money as between the parties (§ 15-6-112). That protection does not cover payments made after the institution receives written notice, from a party able to request present payment, that withdrawals should not be permitted (§ 15-6-112). The protection also has no bearing on disputes among the parties themselves (§ 15-6-112).

Other Payable-at-Death Contracts

Provisions in an insurance policy, pension plan, promissory note, deposit agreement, trust agreement, conveyance, or any other written instrument effective as a contract, gift, conveyance, or trust, that pay money or pass property at death to a person the decedent designated are nontestamentary (Idaho Code § 15-6-201(a)). The probate code does not invalidate them (§ 15-6-201(a)). This section does not limit the rights of creditors under other Idaho laws (§ 15-6-201(b)).

Agreements to Pass Property to a Surviving Spouse

An agreement to pass property at death to the surviving spouse must be in writing, acknowledged or proved like a deed to real property, and contain a description of all real property (Idaho Code § 15-6-201(c)). It is revoked if the spouses later divorce (§ 15-6-201(c)).

Such an agreement does not pass title until it is recorded, before the death of any party, in the recorder’s office of the county of the decedent’s domicile and of each county where described real property is located (§ 15-6-201(d)). Creditor claims survive against the other parties to the agreement, but recovery is limited to the fair market value of the property at the decedent’s death (§ 15-6-201(c)).

Transfer-on-Death (TOD) Securities

Idaho has adopted the Uniform TOD Security Registration Act (Idaho Code § 15-6-311). A “security” includes shares and other interests, and a “security account” includes a securities account with a broker and an investment management or custody account with a trust company or a bank trust division (§ 15-6-301(4), (5)).

• Who can use it: only individuals whose registration shows sole ownership by one individual, or ownership by two or more with right of survivorship rather than as tenants in common (§ 15-6-302).
• How it is shown: the words “transfer on death” or “TOD,” or “pay on death” or “POD,” placed after the owner’s name and before the beneficiary’s name (§ 15-6-305).
• During life: the beneficiary designation has no effect on ownership until the owner’s death, and the owner (or all surviving owners) may cancel or change it at any time without the beneficiary’s consent (§ 15-6-306).
• At death: ownership passes to the beneficiaries who survive all owners; if none survive, the security belongs to the estate of the last owner to die (§ 15-6-307).

A brokerage or other registering entity is not required to offer TOD registration (§ 15-6-308(1)). It may set its own terms, including the use of “LDPS” (lineal descendants per stirpes) to substitute a deceased beneficiary’s descendants (§ 15-6-310(1)). A TOD transfer is not testamentary, but the TOD rules do not limit the rights of the owner’s creditors under other Idaho laws (§ 15-6-309).

Community Property With Right of Survivorship

A husband and wife can hold real property or personal property as “community property with right of survivorship.” On the death of one spouse, the property transfers to and belongs to the surviving spouse (Idaho Code §§ 15-6-401, 15-6-403). The grant, transfer, or devise must expressly declare this form of ownership (§§ 15-6-401, 15-6-403).

Issue	Real property	Personal property
How it is ended by one spouse	Recording, in the county where the property is located, an “affidavit terminating right of survivorship” signed under oath by either spouse (§ 15-6-402(1)).	A document signed by either spouse, delivered while both spouses are alive to the entity holding the property (§ 15-6-404(1), (2)).
Effect on community interest	Recording does not extinguish either spouse’s community interest (§ 15-6-402(1)).	Signing the document does not extinguish either spouse’s community interest (§ 15-6-404(1)).
Divorce or annulment	Severs the survivorship interests and turns them into tenancies in common, unless the divorce court orders otherwise (§ 15-6-402(2)).	Same rule (§ 15-6-404(3)).

For personal property, the first spouse to die has no right to dispose of it at death (§ 15-6-403). If both spouses die and it cannot reasonably be determined who died first, the survivorship right is treated as terminated and the property is treated as community property without survivorship (§ 15-6-404(4)).

Can Creditors Reach Nonprobate Transfers?

Sometimes. Idaho Code § 15-6-107 covers a transfer at death that the decedent, whose last domicile was in Idaho, could have stopped alone by revoking or withdrawing it (§ 15-6-107(1)). It does not cover a survivorship interest in a joint tenancy of real estate (§ 15-6-107(1)).

A person who receives such a transfer can be liable to the probate estate for allowed claims and statutory allowances to the surviving spouse, minor children, and dependent children, but only to the extent the probate estate is not enough to pay them (§ 15-6-107(2)). The liability may not exceed the value of the nonprobate transfers that person received or controlled (§ 15-6-107(2)).

Nonprobate transferees are liable for the shortfall in this order (§ 15-6-107(3)):

1. First, as provided in the decedent’s will or other governing instrument (§ 15-6-107(3)(a)).
2. Next, the trustee of a trust that serves as the principal nonprobate instrument in the estate plan, to the extent of the transfer it received or controlled (§ 15-6-107(3)(b)).
3. Then other nonprobate transferees, in proportion to the values received (§ 15-6-107(3)(c)).

A proceeding may be started only after the personal representative receives a written demand from the surviving spouse, someone acting for a minor or dependent child, or a creditor (§ 15-6-107(7)). If the personal representative declines or fails to act, the person who made the demand may bring the proceeding in the estate’s name at that person’s own expense (§ 15-6-107(7)).

The proceeding must be started within two years after the decedent’s death (§ 15-6-107(8)). A creditor whose claim was allowed after challenging a disallowance may start within 60 days after final allowance (§ 15-6-107(8)). For more on claims, see creditor claims in Idaho probate and protections for spouses and children.

Unless the personal representative has sent written notice that the probate estate is insufficient, a financial institution, registrar, or other obligor that pays a nonprobate transferee under the governing instrument is released from all claims for those amounts (§ 15-6-107(9)(a)).

How I Can Help

I help Idaho clients review how their accounts, securities, and property are titled, and I help families and personal representatives sort out which assets pass outside probate and which belong to the estate. If you are dealing with a joint account, P.O.D. or TOD designation, or a claim against a nonprobate transfer, Request a consultation to discuss your situation.

This page provides general information about Idaho wills and probate, based on the Idaho Code, and is not legal advice. Court rules and case law also affect these matters. Every situation is different; consult an attorney about yours. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.