Survivorship depends on the account's own terms
DC follows the standard multi-party account structure most states use for bank accounts: an account may be for a single party or multiple parties, and a multiple-party account may be with or without a right of survivorship between the parties. When an account carries survivorship, the remaining balance passes automatically to the surviving party or parties at death, without a probate proceeding for those funds.
Labeling an account tenancy in common turns survivorship off
Here's a genuinely useful, specific rule worth understanding directly: designating a DC account as a tenancy in common has a real legal effect — it specifically establishes that the account is without a right of survivorship. This gives account holders a direct, explicit way to opt out of survivorship for a jointly held account, mirroring the real-estate concept of tenancy in common but applied specifically to bank deposits.
What happens without survivorship or a P.O.D. designation
Sums on deposit in a single-party account without a P.O.D. designation, or in a multiple-party account that, by its own terms, is without a right of survivorship, aren't affected by a party's death directly — but the amount that party was beneficially entitled to immediately before death is transferred as part of their own probate estate. A P.O.D. designation attached to an account that's otherwise without survivorship is ineffective; the two features work together, not independently, in that specific combination.
P.O.D. designations work on their own
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, and can access the funds only after the owner dies, claiming whatever remains directly from the bank without needing to go through probate court.
Real estate follows a related, but distinct, framework
The same basic survivorship concept extends to real estate under DC's joint tenancy and tenancy-by-the-entirety statutes, though real property follows its own separate rules, including DC's extension of tenancy by the entirety to registered domestic partners and a real case addressing how courts interpret genuinely ambiguous deed language.
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.