As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:

"Account" 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.

"Beneficiary" means a person named in a trust account as one for whom a party to the account is named as trustee.

"Financial institution" 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.

"Joint account" 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.

"Multiple-party account" 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, charitable or civic organization, or a regular fiduciary or trust account where the relationship is established other than by deposit agreement.

"Net contribution" 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.

"Party" means a person who, by the terms of the account, has a present right, subject to request, to payment from a multiple-party 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.

"Payment," 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.

"P.O.D. account" 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.

"P.O.D. payee" 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.

"Proof of death" includes a death certificate; a certificate of qualification upon a decedent's estate; or an authenticated copy of any record or report of a governmental agency, domestic or foreign, that a person is dead.

"Request" 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.

"Sums on deposit" means the balance payable on a multiple-party account including interest, dividends, and in addition any deposit life insurance proceeds added to the account by reason of the death of a party.

"Trust account" 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 (i) a regular trust account under a testamentary trust or a trust agreement that has significance apart from the account or (ii) a fiduciary account arising from a fiduciary relationship such as an attorney-client relationship.

"Withdrawal" includes payment to a third person pursuant to check or other directive of a party.

1979, c. 407, § 6.1-125.1; 2010, c. 794.