Checking and savings accounts pass to the survivor
When a Montana bank account is jointly titled, the surviving owner owns the account automatically at the other owner's death — the checking and savings balances pass without needing a probate proceeding, following the account's own titling rather than anything stated in a will.
The safe deposit box rule that surprises people
Here's a genuinely distinctive point worth understanding directly: according to Montana guidance, the contents of a jointly titled safe deposit box — other than items that carry their own certificate of title, such as stocks and bonds — belong to the surviving joint tenant, because the title on the box's own signature card is in their names. This holds true even if the deceased owner's will specifically says that particular items inside the box should go to someone else entirely. A grandmother's will might clearly state that a piece of jewelry inside her safe deposit box should go to a particular grandchild, but if the box itself is jointly titled with another surviving co-owner, that survivor is who actually receives the box's contents, regardless of what the will provides for those specific items.
Why this matters for estate planning
This is a genuinely easy trap for families to fall into without realizing it. Someone drafting a will who wants specific personal property, kept in a jointly titled safe deposit box, to go to a particular person needs to either retitle the box itself, remove the item from the box during their lifetime, or otherwise address this directly — simply naming the item and its intended recipient in the will is not enough to override how the box itself is jointly titled with a co-owner.
Reviewing the actual signature card matters
The practical lesson here extends beyond just safe deposit boxes: reviewing the institution's actual signature card, for any joint account or box, is the way to understand who will actually receive it, rather than relying on assumptions about how an asset is titled or what a will says about it.
P.O.D. designations work independently
A payable-on-death (P.O.D.) designation on a Montana bank account lets the 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 probate court involvement.
Real estate follows a related, but distinct, framework
The same basic survivorship concept extends to real estate under Montana's joint tenancy statute, though real property follows its own separate rules, including Montana's distinctive 120-hour survivorship rule and its automatic divorce-conversion rule.
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.