                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 6.2-604)

As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#8220;Account&#8221; 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 similar arrangements.
		&#8220;Beneficiary&#8221; means a person named in a trust account as one for
whom a party to the account is named as trustee.
		&#8220;Fiduciary&#8221; shall include any one or more of the following: (i) a
fiduciary as defined in § 8.01-2, (ii) an agent under a power of attorney, or
(iii) an attorney acting under an attorney-client relationship.
		&#8220;Fiduciary account&#8221; means (i) an estate account for a decedent,
(ii) an account established by one or more agents under a power of attorney or
an existing account of a principal to which one or more agents under a power of
attorney are added, (iii) an account established by one or more conservators,
(iv) an account established by one or more committees, (v) a regular trust
account under a testamentary trust or a trust agreement that has significance
apart from the account, or (vi) an account arising from a fiduciary relationship
such as an attorney-client relationship. &#8220;Fiduciary account&#8221; does
not include a trust account.
		&#8220;Financial institution&#8221; means any entity authorized to do business
under state or federal laws relating to financial institutions that is
authorized to establish accounts, including, without limitation, banks, trust
companies, savings institutions, and credit unions.
		&#8220;Joint account&#8221; 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.
		&#8220;Multiple-fiduciary account&#8221; means a fiduciary account where more
than one fiduciary is authorized to act.
		&#8220;Multiple-party account&#8221; means any of the following types of
account: (i) a joint account, (ii) a P.O.D. account, or (iii) a trust account.
The term 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, or charitable or civic
organization.
		&#8220;Net contribution&#8221; 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 any dividends included in
the current balance. The term includes, in addition, any proceeds of deposit
life insurance added to the account by reason of the death of the party whose
net contribution is in question.
		&#8220;Party&#8221; means a person who, by the terms of the account, has a
present right, subject to request, to payment from a multiple-party account,
including a fiduciary account. The term includes a P.O.D. payee or beneficiary
of a trust account only after the account becomes payable to him by reason of
his surviving the original payee or trustee. The term includes a guardian,
conservator, personal representative, or assignee, including an attaching
creditor, of a party. The term 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.
		&#8220;Payment,&#8221; with respect to sums on deposit, includes withdrawal,
payment on check or other directive of a party, and any pledge of sums on
deposit by a party and any setoff, or reduction or other disposition of all or
part of an account pursuant to a pledge.
		&#8220;P.O.D. account&#8221; means an account payable on request to one person
during his lifetime and on his death to one or more P.O.D. payees, or to one or
more persons during their lifetimes and on the death of all of them to one or
more P.O.D. payees.
		&#8220;P.O.D. payee&#8221; means a person designated on a P.O.D. account as
one to whom the account is payable on request after the death of one or more
persons.
		&#8220;Proof of death&#8221; includes a death certificate; a certificate of
qualification upon a decedent&#8217;s estate; or an authenticated copy of any
record or report of a governmental agency, domestic or foreign, that a person is
dead.
		&#8220;Request&#8221; means a proper request for withdrawal, or a check or
order for payment, that complies with all conditions of the account, including
special requirements concerning necessary signatures and regulations of the
financial institution. If the financial institution conditions withdrawal or
payment on advance notice, for purposes of this article 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.
		&#8220;Sums on deposit&#8221; means the balance payable on a multiple-party
account, including a fiduciary account, including interest, dividends, and in
addition any deposit life insurance proceeds added to the account by reason of
the death of a party.
		&#8220;Trust account&#8221; 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 sums
on deposit in the account, without regard to whether payment to the beneficiary
is mentioned in the deposit agreement. The term does not include a fiduciary
account.
		&#8220;Withdrawal&#8221; includes payment to a third person pursuant to check
or other directive of a party.

HISTORY: 1979, c. 407, § 6.1-125.1; 2010, c. 794; 2020, c. 259.