Joint accounts pass to the survivor
Delaware follows the standard multi-party account structure most states use: a bank account may be established for a single party or for multiple parties, and a multiple-party account may be set up with or without a right of survivorship between the parties. When an account carries survivorship, the remaining balance passes automatically to the surviving owner or owners at death, without a probate proceeding for those funds.
P.O.D. designations work independently
A payable-on-death (P.O.D.) designation lets the account owner retain full control during their own lifetime. The named beneficiary has no rights to the account while the owner is alive — they can't access the funds, and the owner can spend, withdraw, or close the account however they choose. Once the owner dies, the beneficiary claims whatever remains directly from the bank, without needing to go through probate court.
Survivorship and P.O.D. can combine
A multiple-party account can carry both features at once: survivorship between the current joint owners during their lifetimes, and a separate P.O.D. beneficiary designation that only takes effect once the last surviving owner has died. This lets, for example, a married couple hold a joint account together for as long as both are alive, with a named beneficiary automatically inheriting whatever remains once both spouses have passed away.
A much simpler process than the new TOD deed
Compared to Delaware's relatively strict new requirements for a real-estate TOD deed — notarization plus two witnesses, with at least one witness who isn't a beneficiary — setting up survivorship or a P.O.D. designation on a bank account is considerably simpler. It typically just requires completing the bank's own account-opening or account-update paperwork, without needing a notary or witnesses at all.
Real estate follows a related, but distinct, framework
The same basic survivorship concept extends to real estate under Delaware's joint tenancy statute, though real property follows its own, considerably stricter rules, including Delaware's requirement that joint tenancy be expressly created in the deed itself.
Life insurance and retirement accounts
Life insurance and retirement accounts like a 401(k) or IRA follow the same basic beneficiary-designation rule as P.O.D. bank accounts: the named beneficiary receives the asset directly, outside probate, as long as they're alive when the owner dies. Either one becomes part of the probate estate only if no beneficiary was ever named, every named beneficiary predeceased the owner with no contingent beneficiary in place, or the policy or plan names the owner's own estate.