53C-6-8. Personal agency accounts.

(a) Any person may establish a personal agency account by written contract containing a statement that it is executed pursuant to the provisions of this section. A personal agency account may be any type of deposit account. The written contract shall name an agent who shall have authority to act on behalf of the depositor in the manner set out in this subsection. The agent shall have the authority to do the following:

(1) Make, sign, or execute checks drawn on the account or otherwise make withdrawals from the account.

(2) Endorse checks made payable to the principal for deposit only into the account.

(3) Deposit cash or negotiable instruments, including instruments endorsed by the principal, into the account.

(b) A person establishing an account under this section shall sign a statement containing language substantially similar to the following in a conspicuous manner:

The undersigned understands that by establishing a personal agency account under the provisions of North Carolina General Statute 53C-6-8, the agent named in the account may:

1. Sign checks drawn on the account.

2. Make deposits into the account.

The undersigned also understand that if the undersigned is a natural person, upon his or her death, the money remaining in the account will be controlled by his or her will or inherited by his or her heirs.

(c) An account created under the provisions of this section grants no ownership right or interest in the agent. Upon the death of the principal, there is no right of survivorship to the account, and the authority set out in subsection (a) of this section terminates.

(d) The written contract referred to in subsection (a) of this section shall provide that the principal may elect to extend the authority of the agent set out in subsection (a) of this section to act on behalf of the principal in regard to the account, notwithstanding the subsequent incapacity or mental incompetence of the principal. If the principal is an individual and elects to extend the authority of the agent, then upon the subsequent incapacity or mental incompetence of the principal, the agent may continue to exercise the authority, without the requirement of bond or of accounting to any court, until the agent receives actual knowledge that the authority has been terminated. The duly qualified guardian of the estate of the incapacitated or incompetent principal, or the duly appointed attorney-in-fact for the incapacitated or incompetent principal acting pursuant to a durable power of attorney, as defined in G.S. 32A-8 [see now G.S. 32C-1-102], which grants to the attorney-in-fact the authority in regard to the account that is granted to the agent by the written contract executed pursuant to the provisions of this section, shall have the power, upon notifying the agent and providing written notice to the bank where the personal agency account is established, to terminate the agent's authority to act on behalf of the principal with respect to the account. Upon termination of the agent's authority, the agent shall account to the guardian or attorney-in-fact for all actions of the agent in regard to the account during the incapacity or incompetence of the principal. If the principal is an individual and does not elect to extend the authority of the agent, then upon the subsequent incapacity or mental incompetence of the principal, the authority of the agent set out in subsection (a) of this section terminates.

(e) When an account under this section has been established, all or part of the account or any interest or dividend may be paid on a check made, signed, or executed by the agent. In the absence of actual knowledge that the principal has died or that the agency created by the account has been terminated, the payment shall be valid and sufficient discharge to the bank for payment so made.

(f) A personal agency account shall have only one owner and one agent. The owner shall retain the authority to change the named agent on the personal agency account.

(g) Any personal agency account created under the provisions of G.S. 53-146.3, as it existed prior to October 1, 2012, shall for all purposes be governed by the provisions of this section on and after October 1, 2012, and any reference to G.S. 53-146.3 in any document concerning the account shall be deemed a reference to this section.