Given the current state of the marketplace, would be it legal and adviseable to have more than one estateaccount, so that no one account is over $100,000?
Coverage of estate accounts is currently limited to $250,000 per financial institution. The personal representative of an estate (the executor or administrator) has a fiduciary responsibility to preserve the estate's assets until they are distributed to heirs and others; therefore, it would be prudent for the representative to maximize the insurance coverage of any deposit accounts by splitting estate funds up as needed to have them all insured. That could require setting up accounts with more than one bank. If substantial deposit amounts are involved, it would be wise to look into the CDARS program, which can provide FDIC insurance coverage for up to $50 million dollars. You can find more detailed information on CDARS at their website at www.cdars.com/index.php.
Note: This page has been updated to reflect an increase in deposit insurance limits. The "standard maximum deposit insurance amount" on FDIC and NCUSIF deposit coverage was increased to $250,000 beginning on 10/3/08, and the increase was made permanent 7/21/2010.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 7/31/08; updated 6/16/09 and 7/21/10
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Coverage of estate accounts is currently limited to $250,000 per financial institution. The personal representative of an estate (the executor or administrator) has a fiduciary responsibility to preserve the estate's assets until they are distributed to heirs and others; therefore, it would be prudent for the representative to maximize the insurance coverage of any 