Skip Navigation

Court-appointed representatives

Electronic savings bonds

If the person who died has an online TreasuryDirect account, contact us.

We will put a hold on the account and tell you what to do.

Paper savings bonds

This page is about paper savings bonds.

When someone dies, that person's estate (what the person owns) must be "settled" – distributed according to the person's will or the law. Sometimes, a court appoints someone to settle the estate.

Who and what this page is for

This page focuses on these situations:

  • Settling the estate involves special provisions of state law relating to small estates.
  • The court appoints a representative to settle the estate, and
    • the representative has fulfilled all their duties and has been discharged (a closed administered estate), or
    • the representative is settling the estate (an open administered estate)
      • with limited powers from the court, or
      • with full powers from the court

What to do...

Special provision of state law relating to small estate OR a closed administered estate

This section is for 2 situations:

State law relating to small estates

Note: State laws relating to small estates vary widely. You must find out what the law is in the state where the estate is being settled.

Is the estate being settled under special provisions of state law relating to small estates?

If so, do you have a Small Estates Affidavit or similar document?

A closed administered estate

Was a court-appointed representative in charge of settling the estate?

Has that person finished their work and been discharged as the representative?

Do you have a Decree of Distribution or a court-approved Final Account or similar document?

In either situation, the Affidavit or Decree or Final Account will tell you what to do with the savings bonds owned by the person who died. The document may say either that

  • specific bonds in the estate now belong to specific people, or
  • all the people entitled to the bonds must now agree among themselves what to do with the bonds

When specific people now own specific bonds

Each person may ask for payment for the bonds they now own.

To do that, each person must do this:

  1. Fill out FS Form 1522 listing the bond(s) to which they are entitled and telling us where to deposit the money.
  2. Follow the instructions on the form about signatures. If the instructions say the signature must be certified, WAIT to sign in the presence of the certifying official.
  3. Go to the instructions below on Where to send the forms and other documents to us.

When everyone must agree on what to do

In this case, once all the people who are entitled to a share in the estate agree on what to do with the paper savings bonds, they must do this:

  1. Fill out FS Form 5394 indicating who is to get which bonds and what that person wants to do about their bonds. (See the options for different bonds on the form.)
  2. Have their signatures certified. (WAIT to sign the form in the presence of a certifying official, as explained on the form.)
  3. For HH bonds that the new owner wants reissued: Fill out FS Form 5396 to tell us where to direct deposit interest payments every 6 months.

Where to send the forms and other documents to us

When the appropriate forms are filled out and signed correctly (certified, if necessary), here's how to put it all together and send it to us:

  1. Pack up
    • the bonds – Do NOT sign them.
    • the form(s)
    • a certified copy of the death certificate for any deceased person named on the bond(s)
    • whichever is relevant to your situation:
      • a notarized copy of the small estates affidavit, or
      • court documents certified to be true and correct by the court clerk or other authorized court official

        Note: We cannot return documents you send us. Please make sure everything you send is legible.

  2. Mail the package to:

    Treasury Retail Securities Services
    P.O. Box 9150
    Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150

What to do...

An open administered estate: representative has limited powers

If you are the representative that a court appointed to settle an estate and you have only limited powers to distribute or dispose of the estate's property:

  1. Write to us, explaining the situation as completely as possible.
  2. Include a copy of the appointment with a list or brief description of the limited powers.
  3. Include a certified copy of the death certificate for any deceased person named on the bond(s).

Note: We cannot return documents that you send to us. Please make sure everything is legible on copies you send to us.

  1. Mail your letter and other documents to:

    Treasury Retail Securities Services
    P.O. Box 9150
    Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150

What to do...

An open administered estate: representative has full powers

If you are the representative that a court appointed to settle an estate and you have full powers to distribute or dispose of the estate's property, you may

  • cash savings bonds that the estate now owns, or
  • distribute the savings bonds, letting the people who are entitled to each bond decide what to do with their bond(s)

Cashing savings bonds as a court-appointed representative

A local bank or other financial institution may be willing to cash EE or I bonds for you.

Banks cannot cash HH bonds.

For HH bonds and for EE or I bonds that you cannot cash locally, see the instructions below for sending the bonds to us for payment.

Whichever way you cash the bonds, you will need proof of your appointment. As proof, you need a copy of the court document that is certified to be true and correct by the clerk of the court. The seal of the office or the official must be visible. You must also include the clerk's statement that the appointment is still in full force and effect. The clerk's statement must be dated no more than 12 months before you cash the bonds.

If a bank will cash the estate's EE and I bonds

The bank will ask you for

  • a certified copy of the death certificate(s) for the person (or people) named on the bonds
  • proof of your appointment as the representative authorized to cash the bonds
  • the bonds, signed on the back this way:

    [Your name], [your title as shown in the Letters of Appointment], [name of bond owner who died], deceased

For HH bonds and if you can't cash EE or I bonds locally

We cannot return death certificates or other legal documents. Send us legible copies.

To have us cash the bonds for you as payment to the estate:

  1. Fill out FS Form 1522,
  2. Follow the instructions on the form about signing the form. If you need to have your signature certified, WAIT to sign until you are with the certifying official.
  3. When you sign the form, indicate that you are the estate's court-appointed representative.
  4. Pack up
    • the bonds – Do NOT sign them.
    • the completed and appropriately signed form
    • a certified copy of the death certificate for the person who died
    • proof of your appointment as the representative authorized to cash the bonds – Any document must have a visible seal of an office or official.
  5. Mail the package to:

    Treasury Retail Securities Services
    P.O. Box 9150
    Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150

Distributing the bonds

Instead of cashing all the bonds in the estate, you may distribute them – give specific bonds to specific people.

Note: You cannot split the amount of a savings bond. The entire amount of each savings bond must go to its new owner.

To distribute an estate's savings bonds as the court-appointed representative with full powers:

  1. Fill out FS Form 1455 indicating how you want the bonds to be distributed among the people who are entitled to the estate's bonds.
  2. WAIT to sign the form until you are in the presence of a certifying official, as explained on the form. When you sign, indicate that you are the estate's court-appointed representative.
  3. Have each person who is entitled to one or more of the estate's bonds fill out the appropriate form(s) for what they want to do with the bonds. They may cash a bond. They may ask us to reissue the bond in their name.
    • To cash a savings bond: The person entitled to the bond must fill out FS Form 1522. They must follow the instructions on the form about whether their signature must be certified.
    • To have us reissue a savings bond: The person entitled to the bond will be the new owner of the bond. They must fill out FS Form 4000 and have their signature certified, as explained on the form.
      • For EE and I bonds:

        NOTE: We reissue EE and I bonds as electronic bonds, not paper bonds. The new owner must have an account in our free online program, TreasuryDirect.

        For EE or I bonds, complete Parts A and C of FS Form 4000.

      • For HH bonds, complete Parts B and C of FS Form 4000.

        Because we pay interest every 6 months to the owner of an HH bond, the new owner must also complete FS Form 5396 to tell us where to deposit the interest.

  4. Pack up
    • The bonds – Do NOT sign them.
    • All completed and appropriately signed forms
    • A certified copy of the death certificate for any deceased person named on the bonds. The office's or official's seal must be visible.
    • Proof of your appointment as the representative authorized to distribute the bonds

Note: We cannot return documents you send us. Please make sure everything you send is legible.

  1. Mail the package to:

    Treasury Retail Securities Services
    P.O. Box 9150
    Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150

We're Here to Help

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time (SLGS 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)