How to Cash a Savings Bond Not in Your Name: Forms and Filing

You can cash a savings bond that is not in your name only if the U.S. Treasury recognizes you as entitled to it: a surviving co-owner, a named beneficiary, a court-appointed estate representative, a voluntary representative of a small estate, an attorney-in-fact under a valid power of attorney, a voluntary guardian, or the parent of a minor owner. Each path calls for different proof, the redemption almost always goes through the Bureau of the Fiscal Service rather than a bank, and processing typically takes at least two months.¹

Who Qualifies to Cash a Bond Registered to Someone Else

Your route depends on whether the registered owner is alive, deceased, or a minor, and on what the bond’s registration says.

Surviving Co-Owner

If the bond names two co-owners and one has died, the survivor becomes sole owner automatically. The bond does not pass through probate. You can redeem it or have it reissued in your name alone, with proof of the other co-owner’s death.²³

Named Beneficiary

A beneficiary designation functions as a payable-on-death arrangement. You have no rights while the owner is alive, but the bond passes directly to you at death and skips the estate. A certified copy of the death certificate establishes your claim.²

Court-Appointed Estate Representative

When the bond names neither a surviving co-owner nor a living beneficiary, it belongs to the deceased owner’s estate. An executor or personal representative can redeem it, but only with court-issued letters testamentary or letters of appointment proving authority. Without that judicial appointment, Treasury will not process the claim.⁴

Voluntary Representative for a Small Estate

If no one named on the bond is still living and the estate will not go through formal probate, you may qualify to act as a voluntary representative using FS Form 5336. This option is available only when the total redemption value of all Treasury securities in the estate is $100,000 or less as of the date of death. Above that threshold, the estate must be administered through a court.⁵

Attorney-in-Fact Under a Power of Attorney

If the owner is alive but incapacitated, you can redeem the bonds under a power of attorney that is either durable or signed within the past two years. You submit FS Form 1522 with the unsigned bonds and a copy of the POA. An attorney-in-fact can cash the bonds but cannot have them reissued into a different name.⁶

Voluntary Guardian

When no POA exists and the owner cannot manage their own affairs, a family member or caregiver can apply to act as a voluntary guardian, but only if the total redemption value of the owner’s bonds is $20,000 or less. Above that, a court must appoint a legal representative.⁷

Parent of a Minor Owner

A parent can cash a bond registered to their minor child when the child is too young to understand the transaction. You write a statement on the back of the bond certifying that you are the parent, that the child lives with you or is in your legal custody, and giving the child’s age and Social Security number.⁸

Two situations sit outside these paths. Electronic bonds in a deceased person’s TreasuryDirect account cannot be reached with the login credentials; contact TreasuryDirect and they will place a hold on the account and provide instructions.² And nothing on this list authorizes an heir to cash a bond simply because they inherited property generally; the registration on the bond itself controls.

Why Your Bank Probably Cannot Cash It

Banks and credit unions that act as Treasury paying agents can redeem paper savings bonds on the spot, but only for someone whose own name appears on the bond as owner or co-owner. The presenter shows identification, signs the request for payment, and walks out with the money.⁹

Any case that requires supporting documentation, whether a death certificate, letters testamentary, a power of attorney, or a small-estate form, goes directly to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service instead. Your bank’s role in those situations shrinks to one thing: certifying your identity when you sign the Treasury form.⁹

The Forms You Will Actually File

Two forms cover almost every situation where the bond is not in your name.

FS Form 1522 is the general request for payment. Use it for beneficiary claims, powers of attorney, court-appointed representatives, and voluntary guardians. Its formal title is “Special Form of Request for Payment of United States Savings and Retirement Securities Where Use of a Detached Request Is Authorized.”¹⁰

FS Form 5336 is the small-estate form. Use it when the owner has died, the estate is not being formally administered, and the total value of Treasury securities is $100,000 or less. It appoints you as voluntary representative and disposes of the bonds in a single transaction.¹¹

Download the current version from TreasuryDirect before filling anything out; outdated versions come back. You will list each bond’s serial number, series, and issue date, and provide the payee’s Social Security or employer identification number for tax reporting.¹⁰

Certifying Your Signature

The signature-certification rule catches more people than any other step. It depends on the amount involved:

$1,000 or less in total redemption value: no certification. Sign the form and enclose a copy of your driver’s license, passport, state ID, or military ID.¹⁰
More than $1,000: sign in the physical presence of a notary public or an authorized certifying officer at a bank or credit union, who applies an official seal. Acceptable seals include a notary seal, a bank corporate seal, a Signature Guaranteed stamp, or a medallion program stamp.¹⁰

Most banks certify signatures for their own customers at no charge. Non-customers may pay a fee, and some banks refuse the service altogether. Call ahead.

Mailing the Claim and Waiting

Send the signed and certified forms, together with the unsigned paper bonds and any supporting documents, to:

Treasury Retail Securities Services
P.O. Box 9150
Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150¹⁰

Use registered or certified mail with a return receipt. Signed paper bonds function much like bearer instruments in transit, and if the package disappears you will be filing a separate lost-bond claim on top of everything else.

For non-administered estates, all bonds and securities belonging to the estate must be submitted together in a single transaction; you cannot send them in batches.¹¹

Expect at least two months of processing for bonds not in your name. More complex TreasuryDirect and trust-related transactions can take ten months or more.¹ Payment arrives by direct deposit if you provide bank details on the form, otherwise by paper check.

If You Cannot Find the Physical Bonds

When you know bonds exist but the paper certificates are gone, file FS Form 1048 to claim a lost, stolen, or destroyed bond. Sign the form in front of a notary or certifying officer and mail it to the address on the form. If you have the serial numbers, the process moves faster; if you do not, and the bonds were issued in 1974 or later, Treasury Hunt can search by Social Security number or by owner name and state. For bonds issued before 1974, fill in FS Form 1048 with whatever information you have.¹²

Replacements are issued as electronic bonds inside a TreasuryDirect account, so you will need to open one if you do not already have it. You can also ask Treasury to cash the bond instead of replacing it. Lost-bond searches take at least seven months.¹

Taxes on the Interest

Savings bond interest is exempt from state and local income tax but fully taxable at the federal level.¹³ Most owners defer reporting the interest until redemption, which means years or decades of accrued interest can land in a single tax year.¹⁴

When bonds pass through an estate, the tax splits. The estate generally owes tax on interest accrued through the date of death, and whoever ultimately cashes the bond owes tax on interest earned after that date. Getting the split right matters, because misreporting can draw IRS attention to both returns.

When you redeem paper bonds by mail, Treasury issues a 1099-INT by January 31 of the following year showing the full interest paid.¹⁵ Report that amount on your federal return. If total taxable interest for the year exceeds $1,500, you will need Schedule B.¹⁴ The IRS gets a copy of the same 1099-INT, so unreported interest catches up eventually.¹⁶

1
TreasuryDirect. TreasuryDirect – Processing Times
2
TreasuryDirect. Death of a Savings Bond Owner
3
eCFR. 31 CFR Part 353 Subpart L – Deceased Owner, Coowner or Beneficiary
4
TreasuryDirect. Court-Appointed Representatives
5
TreasuryDirect. FS Form 5336
6
TreasuryDirect. Living Estates (Powers of Attorney, Guardians, and Conservators)
7
eCFR. 31 CFR 353.64 – Voluntary Guardian of an Incapacitated Person
8
TreasuryDirect. Cashing Paper Bonds for a Young Child
9
eCFR. 31 CFR Part 315 – Regulations Governing US Savings Bonds
10
Bureau of the Fiscal Service. FS Form 1522
11
TreasuryDirect. Non-Administered Estates
12
TreasuryDirect. Get Help for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed EE or I Savings Bond
13
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 403, Interest Received
14
Internal Revenue Service. Savings Bonds 1
15
TreasuryDirect. 1099 Tax Statements for Paper Savings Bonds and TreasuryDirect
16
Internal Revenue Service. Form 1099-INT, Interest Income