25 Feb What does a power of attorney mean for these accounts?

Q. If you have beneficiaries listed for IRAs and brokerage accounts, savings accounts, do you need power of attorney for those to be released? Also, if a son or daughter is also on a checking account to write checks, are they blocked from using all funds?
— Unsure

A. We’re going to assume you’re talking about the accounts of someone who died.

There are a few things to consider.

First, a beneficiary certainly does not need — and, in fact, cannot use — a power of attorney to claim assets when the account owner dies, said Tom Szieber, a trusts and estates attorney with Aziz & Associates in Clifton and Summit.

And, he or she may not need cooperation from the executor of the account owner’s estate, either, he said.

“Powers of attorney become void upon the death of the principal, so it would be inappropriate for an agent to access the deceased principal’s assets using one,” Szieber said. “Upon the principal’s death, the executor of the principal’s estate is the one who, in general, is permitted to access probate assets — that is, those titled solely in the principal’s name.”

However, he said, non-probate assets with designated beneficiaries or joint owners can be claimed by completing a Form L-8 (a self-executing tax waiver), provided the estate does not need to file a New Jersey inheritance tax return and pay inheritance tax.

“If a return is required and payment is owed due to the existence of a beneficiary or joint owner who is not a Class A — a spouse, descendant, or lineal ancestor — or Class E (certain types of exempt organizations) beneficiary, then a Form L-8 cannot be used and financial institutions will not release funds in their entirety until a tax waiver is issued by the State of New Jersey following the filing of an inheritance tax return and payment of the tax,” he said. “For larger estates, federal estate tax considerations may also be relevant.”

During the account owner’s life, if a son or daughter is “on” a checking account as a joint owner of an account, they can use any or all of the funds in the account if both parties are alive, Szieber said.

“If a son or daughter is `on’ the account as a holder of power of attorney, then such person can access the funds in the account, though he or she retains a fiduciary responsibility to the account owner and should not use such funds for purposes that would be in violation of said duty,” he said. “If he or she is `on’ the account as a pay-on-death beneficiary, then he or she cannot use or access such account until the principal has died.”

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This story was originally published in February 2026. 

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