Discover’s joint owner authorization form is the document you use to add a second person to an existing Discover savings or checking account as a joint owner with right of survivorship. You can download the PDF from Discover’s website or request a copy by calling 1-800-347-7000. Both the current account holder and the incoming joint owner have to sign it in ink — Discover does not accept electronic signatures — and once processed, the new joint owner has full access to the balance, including the ability to withdraw funds or close the account.1Discover. Add a Joint Owner — Instructions and Authorization Form
Who Qualifies as a Joint Owner
The person you want to add has to meet three baseline requirements: at least 18 years old, a valid taxpayer identification number (typically a Social Security Number), and a physical U.S. address. P.O. boxes don’t qualify.1Discover. Add a Joint Owner — Instructions and Authorization Form
They must also be a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident alien. The form has a citizenship checkbox in Section B, and resident aliens need to list their country of citizenship. Non-resident aliens and people without lawful U.S. residency status cannot be added.1Discover. Add a Joint Owner — Instructions and Authorization Form
What to Gather Before You Start
The form is divided into four sections. Section A is you, the current account holder. Section B is the new joint owner. Sections C and D are the signature blocks. Missing a single field can bounce the form back, so pull everything together before you sit down with it.
For Section A, you’ll need your full name as it appears on the account, the specific Discover account number you’re modifying, your street address on file, and a primary phone number.
Section B asks for considerably more about the new joint owner:
- Full name, date of birth, and Social Security Number
- Mother’s maiden name
- Email address
- Physical U.S. street address (no P.O. boxes)
- Citizenship status, with country of citizenship if a resident alien
- Primary and alternate phone numbers, each marked as landline or mobile
- Occupation, employer name, and employment status (full time, part time, self-employed, retired, student, homemaker, unemployed, or other)
Discover may also ask for a copy of the joint owner’s driver’s license, state ID, or another identifying document to complete verification.1Discover. Add a Joint Owner — Instructions and Authorization Form Have one ready.
Filling In and Signing the Form
Print the PDF and complete each numbered field. Confirm Section A matches what Discover already has on file. Section B is where most of the work happens. Double-check the Social Security Number in particular; a transposed digit is the fastest way to get the form rejected.
Both signatures must be original handwritten signatures in ink. The current account holder signs Section C. The new joint owner signs Section D. Discover states plainly that it cannot process the request without both. No notarization is needed, just two wet signatures and the dates they were signed.1Discover. Add a Joint Owner — Instructions and Authorization Form
Read Section C carefully before signing it. By signing there, you’re acknowledging that the joint owner will have full rights to the funds, including the ability to withdraw everything and close the account. By signing Section D, the new joint owner agrees to the Discover Deposit Account Agreement and authorizes Discover to pull a credit report under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.1Discover. Add a Joint Owner — Instructions and Authorization Form
How to Submit the Completed Form
You have two options.
Upload It Online
Scan or photograph all pages of the signed form and upload them as a single file through Discover’s Secure Document Upload portal. The file has to be under 7 MB and in one of these formats: .tif, .jpg, .png, or .pdf.2Discover. Secure Document Upload If you’re also sending a copy of the joint owner’s ID, include it in the same upload or submit it right after.
Mail It
Send the original signed form to Discover’s general correspondence address:
Discover
PO Box 30416
Salt Lake City, UT 841303Discover. Contact Us
Because the form contains a Social Security Number, certified mail or another trackable method is worth the extra few dollars.
How Long Processing Takes
Discover’s Secure Document Upload page states processing takes up to five business days.4Discover. Secure Document Upload Mailed forms will take longer depending on delivery time. Once the request is processed, Discover notifies the account holder by mail at the address on file, and you can see the change by logging into your account at Discover.com.1Discover. Add a Joint Owner — Instructions and Authorization Form
The new joint owner will need to register separately for online banking through Discover’s Account Center. Each joint owner must set up their own user ID and password; sharing login credentials is not allowed.5Discover. Account Center (Banking) Agreement
What You’re Actually Granting
Adding a joint owner is not the same as giving someone view-only access or a limited power of attorney. The form creates a joint tenancy with right of survivorship, which means both owners share equal, undivided ownership of the entire balance.6Cornell Law Institute. Right of Survivorship Any funds either owner deposits belong to both.1Discover. Add a Joint Owner — Instructions and Authorization Form
If one owner dies, the survivor automatically inherits the full balance without going through probate.6Cornell Law Institute. Right of Survivorship That survivorship feature is often the reason people fill the form out in the first place, typically a parent adding an adult child, or spouses consolidating accounts.
The other side of joint ownership is that either owner can withdraw the entire balance at any time without the other’s consent, and either can close the account. Once you sign, you cannot unilaterally limit what the joint owner does with the money.
Risks Worth Weighing Before You Sign
A joint owner’s creditors may be able to reach the account. If the joint owner has an unpaid judgment against them, a creditor can seek a garnishment order covering funds in any account the debtor co-owns. Banks that receive a garnishment order typically freeze the whole account, not just the debtor’s share. The non-debtor owner then has to go to court to prove which funds are actually theirs, which gets harder once the money has been commingled.
The rules vary by state. In community property states, a spouse’s separate debt can more easily reach a joint account. In common law states, the general rule is that one spouse’s debt stays separate, with exceptions when the debt benefited both spouses or was taken on jointly. Federal benefits like Social Security deposited into the account are generally protected from garnishment regardless of state.
Taxes are another wrinkle. Discover issues one Form 1099-INT for interest earned, and it goes out under a single Social Security Number, usually the first name on the account. If you and the joint owner file jointly as spouses, this doesn’t matter. If you don’t, the person whose SSN appears on the 1099-INT can use nominee reporting to allocate the co-owner’s share to them.7Internal Revenue Service. General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (2025)
Simply adding a joint owner doesn’t by itself trigger a gift tax event. The IRS generally treats a taxable gift as occurring when the non-contributing owner actually withdraws funds they did not deposit. For 2026, each person can give up to $19,000 per recipient per year without filing a gift tax return.8Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances 1 If the joint owner withdraws more than that from funds you deposited, you’d file IRS Form 709 to report the gift, though no tax is owed unless you’ve exceeded your lifetime exemption.
One more caution: for anyone thinking about Medicaid eligibility later, adding a joint owner can create real problems. States generally treat the Medicaid applicant as owning the entire account balance regardless of who deposited the funds, and later removing the joint owner or moving money out can be treated as an improper asset transfer that triggers a penalty period of ineligibility.
If your goal is convenience or survivorship and the other person carries significant debt or has Medicaid planning ahead, a payable-on-death designation or a power of attorney may accomplish what you want without the exposure that comes with joint ownership.