Which Banks Offer Tenancy by the Entirety?

Florida law presumes that a joint bank account owned by a married couple is held as tenants by the entirety, a form of ownership that treats the couple as a single legal unit. A creditor with a judgment against one spouse alone cannot garnish the account. The couple does not have to ask the bank for this protection; Section 655.79 of the Florida Statutes supplies it by default.

The threat to the protection is the bank’s own paperwork. Chase and Synchrony are the only two of twenty-six major banks, online banks, and credit unions whose agreements state the protection outright. Six others refuse entireties ownership by name, and a written refusal defeats the presumption. The other eighteen say nothing either way, which leaves the Florida default standing.

What Is a Tenancy by the Entirety Bank Account?

A tenancy by the entirety account is a joint account that belongs to a married couple as one legal unit rather than in halves. Neither spouse owns a share a creditor can take. A judgment against the husband alone, or the wife alone, reaches nothing in the account.

A couple opening a joint account gets entireties ownership without checking a single box. Section 655.79(1) of the Florida Statutes is the source of that presumption, and a spousal deposit account “shall be considered a tenancy by the entirety unless otherwise specified in writing.” The Legislature added that sentence in 2008, seven years after Beal Bank, SSB v. Almand & Associates, 780 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 2001), created a narrower presumption at common law.

A creditor holding a judgment against both spouses can still reach the account. A joint credit card or a joint line of credit makes the lender that kind of creditor, though only a judgment against both spouses arms it. The court in In re Collins, 600 B.R. 108 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2019), held a couple’s entireties property exempt in bankruptcy even though their credit union held a joint line of credit, because the line was current and no joint judgment existed.

The federal government is the other exception. A federal tax lien reaches one spouse’s interest in entireties property under United States v. Craft, 535 U.S. 274 (2002), and courts treat federal criminal restitution liens the same way. In United States v. McArthur, 7 F. Supp. 3d 1220 (S.D. Ala. 2014), a federal court applying Florida law found a Florida couple’s Navy Federal account to be entireties property and still ordered half of it paid toward one spouse’s criminal restitution.

An ordinary creditor gets no such power. In Gibson v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 255 So. 3d 944 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018), Wells Fargo was collecting a judgment against the husband alone and persuaded the trial court to award it $1,310,491.78 out of the couple’s joint tax refunds. The Second District reversed: Wells Fargo “is not the IRS and lacks the IRS’s special authority under the Internal Revenue Code.”

What Each Bank’s Deposit Agreement Says

No Florida law requires a bank to offer tenancy by the entirety on its account forms. The Florida Supreme Court urged the Legislature in 2001 to make financial institutions present each ownership choice on the signature card. The Legislature never did; the statute has not been amended since 2008. Each bank decides for itself what its documents say, so the answer changes bank by bank.

The statute reaches credit unions as well as banks. The Fourth District described Section 655.79 as governing “bank and credit union accounts” in Sitomer v. Orlan, 660 So. 2d 1111, 1113 n.2 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). Florida bankruptcy courts apply the entireties presumption to credit union accounts the same way.

On the chart, Recognizes means the agreement itself states that a spousal joint account is entireties property. Disclaims means the agreement names tenancy by the entirety and rejects it. Silent means the document does neither, so the Florida presumption controls.

Current as of August 2026. Download the tenancy by the entirety banks chart (PDF).

Institution	Category	Stance	Governing Document (Date)	What the Document Says
Bank of America	Major bank	Silent	Deposit Agreement and Disclosures, effective May 15, 2026 (91-11-2000B)	“All joint accounts are presumed to be joint accounts with the right of survivorship, unless applicable state law requires other treatment or we have documentation that the account is owned in another capacity”
Chase (JPMorgan Chase)	Major bank	Recognizes	Deposit Account Agreement, effective June 14, 2026	“A Florida joint account owned solely by two spouses is a ‘tenants by the entirety’ account unless the signature card indicates otherwise”
Wells Fargo	Major bank	Silent	Deposit Account Agreement, effective July 28, 2026 (CCB2018)	Co-owners are treated as “joint tenants with right of survivorship” unless “applicable state laws require other treatment” or “we agree with you in writing that the account is owned in some other way”
Citibank	Major bank	Silent	Consumer Deposit Account Agreement, effective November 20, 2025, amendments appended through August 25, 2026	“Unless you designate otherwise on your signature card, application, or other bank documentation, we will assume that personal accounts opened by two or more individuals are intended to be joint tenancy accounts with the right of survivorship”
Truist (SunTrust/BB&T)	Major bank	Disclaims	Bank Services Agreement, 01/16/2026	“An account that is owned by two or more individuals will be treated as joint tenants with right of survivorship, and not as ‘tenants in common’ or as ‘tenants by the entirety'”
PNC Bank	Major bank	Disclaims	Account Agreement for Personal Checking, Savings and Money Market Accounts, RDAOPM11-0526 (5/2026)	“If an Account is in the names of spouses, you understand, intend and agree that such an Account is NOT owned as tenants by the entireties unless otherwise expressly designated on the Account records”
Regions Bank	Major bank	Disclaims	Deposit Agreement, CS1004 (06/25), Florida Account Disclosures	A Florida spousal account is treated as “a joint tenant account with right of survivorship (to the extent that such accounts are recognized under applicable law) and not as an account of tenants by the entireties, unless otherwise expressly designated on the signature card or other account records”
Fifth Third Bank	Major bank	Disclaims	Deposit Account Rules & Regulations, issue date June 25, 2026	A joint account “shall be deemed as owned as joint tenants with right of survivorship, not as tenancy by the entireties”
TD Bank	Major bank	Silent	Personal Deposit Account Agreement, 62-7340-DG (08/2026)	“The following provisions explain the rules applicable to your Account depending on the form of ownership specified on the signature card. Only the portion corresponding to the form of ownership specified will apply”
Capital One	Major bank	Silent	360 Checking Account Disclosures, effective May 20, 2026; 360 Savings (July 15, 2026) and Simply Checking (August 5, 2026) carry the same clause	“The owners of the account are considered to be ‘joint tenants’ with right of survivorship”
Synchrony Bank	Online bank	Recognizes	Consumer Deposit Account Agreement and Disclosures, effective July 1, 2025	“If two spouses married to each other are the only joint owners, a joint account is owned by them as ‘tenants by the entireties’ if the owners reside in a state that recognizes that type of ownership”
American Express National Bank	Online bank	Silent	Consumer Deposit Account Agreement, rev. January 5, 2026	“A Joint Account with Right of Survivorship (and not as Tenants In Common) is an account in the name of two persons”
Barclays (US)	Online bank	Silent	Online Savings Account Terms and Conditions, March 2026 version (Barclays Bank Delaware)	“Our Joint Accounts are considered ‘Joint Accounts with Right of Survivorship.'” The same section adds: “Other types of account ownership are not available from us at this time”
Ally Bank	Online bank	Silent	Deposit agreement and disclosures, effective August 13, 2024	“All owners are joint tenants with right of survivorship, meaning that if one owner dies, the account will belong to the remaining joint owners”
Marcus by Goldman Sachs	Online bank	Silent	Deposit Account Agreement, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, effective June 27, 2025	“All joint Accounts are owned by the Account owners as joint tenants with right of survivorship”
CIT Bank	Online bank	Silent	CIT Bank Agreement for Personal Accounts, rev. 6/12/26 (a division of First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company)	“All joint accounts are titled as joint tenants with right of survivorship. This means that if one owner dies, the account will belong to the survivor(s)”
Discover	Online bank	Disclaims	Deposit Account Agreement, BK.DBATAGT.L.0126, issued by Discover, a division of Capital One, N.A.	“All joint Accounts are established as joint tenancy with right of survivorship only.” The same subsection adds: “We do not offer any other type of joint Account (i.e., tenants in common or tenants by the entirety)”
Suncoast Credit Union (Tampa)	Florida credit union	Silent	Signature Card (04-2019) in the Add a Joint Owner packet, revised 08/2025; Account Agreement and Disclosures, 10/23/2019 revision	The card’s ownership choices end at “Joint (Multiple Parties with Survivorship Rights),” and the account agreement gives a joint account rights of survivorship “unless otherwise stated on the Account Card”
VyStar Credit Union (Jacksonville)	Florida credit union	Silent	Membership Agreement and Disclosures, July 1, 2025	“Unless otherwise stated on the Account Card or documented through the Credit Union’s online application and authentication process, a joint account includes rights of survivorship”
Space Coast Credit Union (Melbourne)	Florida credit union	Silent	Membership Agreement and Disclosures, 04/01/2025	“All joint accounts are right of survivorship. This means that when one owner dies, all sums in the account will pass to the surviving owner(s)”
MIDFLORIDA Credit Union (Lakeland)	Florida credit union	Silent	Consumer Terms and Conditions, 03/23/2026	“Unless your Account Card specifically states otherwise, multiple party accounts are held in joint tenancy with the right of survivorship”
GTE Financial (Tampa)	Florida credit union	Silent	Membership and Account Agreement, 01/26/2026	“Rights of Survivorship. When one owner dies, all sums in the account will pass to the surviving owner(s)”
FAIRWINDS Credit Union (Orlando)	Florida credit union	Disclaims	Member Handbook containing the Membership and Account Agreement, effective June 23, 2025 (22-FCU-0274)	“We are not bound by any attempt by you to change the account ownership to anything other than a joint tenancy with right of survivorship, including ‘tenants by the entirety’ or ‘tenants in common'”
Navy Federal Credit Union	National credit union	Silent	Add Joint Owner form, NFCU 97AJO (5-26); Important Disclosures, NFCU 606 (6-26)	The form’s two ownership boxes are “Joint Account–With Survivorship” and “Joint Account–No Survivorship,” and it states: “If a survivorship option has not been indicated here, your accounts will be designated as Joint With Survivorship”
PenFed Credit Union	National credit union	Silent	Checking Account Application and Signature Card, Form 151 (03/24); Membership Disclosures, Form 794 (04/2019)	The card’s ownership designations are “Individual,” “Joint with Survivorship” and “Joint without Survivorship,” with individual ownership as the default if none is selected
USAA Federal Savings Bank	National bank	Silent	Depository Agreement and Disclosures, effective October 10, 2025 (93111-1025)	“If two or more persons are named as owners of the account, they will own the account as joint tenants with rights of survivorship”

The chart shows each bank’s agreement as of August 2026, and that is the edition that governs an account opened today. An older account is governed by the edition in force the day it was opened: “the date a bank account is opened is the operative date for establishing ownership.” Regions Bank v. Hyman, 91 F. Supp. 3d 1234, 1256 (M.D. Fla. 2015). Banks revise these agreements without notice, so the copy worth keeping is the one in force at opening.

PNC shows how much an edition can change. Its entireties disclaimer originally ran under a heading limiting it to Florida accounts. PNC dropped the heading between June 2015 and August 2016, and the same two sentences have applied to every PNC personal account since. When a Florida appellate court enforced the clause in 2023, it construed the older Florida-headed edition that governed when those depositors signed.

The published documents are also not the whole paper trail. In Regions Bank v. Hyman, the depositor’s bank used a card offering a “Multiple Party Account-Tenancy by the Entireties” box, and the bank did not hand out a copy unasked. In Loumpos, a couple retitled an account on a card reading “Ten by Enty” and checked a “Joint Tenants by Entirety” box; the opinions never name the bank. A Silent entry means the bank’s published documents leave the Florida presumption in place. What the branch paperwork offers is a separate question.

Does Bank of America Allow Tenancy by the Entirety?

A Florida married couple’s joint account at Bank of America is presumed entireties property. Nothing in the bank’s current published documents specifies otherwise. The deposit agreement never mentions entireties ownership, and no current public document from the bank offers an entireties election. That silence leaves the statutory default in charge of the account.

The agreement’s joint-account clause points the same way. Joint accounts are presumed to carry survivorship rights “unless applicable state law requires other treatment or we have documentation that the account is owned in another capacity.” For a Florida married couple, state law requires other treatment. Among the major banks whose documents never mention entireties, that carve-out is the language most favorable to the couple.

Bank of America once offered the choice outright. In Connell v. Connell, 93 So. 3d 1140 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012), the Second District described the deposit agreement the bank used in 2009 and 2010, which offered an express choice between survivorship ownership and a tenancy by the entireties.

A signature card from the same era drew the same line. The card described in Branch Banking & Trust Co. v. ARK Development/Oceanview, LLC, 150 So. 3d 817 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014), recorded an account as individual rather than as “a joint account with survivorship or a tenancy by the entireties.”

The current agreement, effective May 15, 2026, applies in all states and names no tenancy form at all. A couple opening an account there today is in the same position as at any silent bank. The account is presumed entireties property from day one. A signed declaration kept with the account records documents the facts a court would later ask about.

How a Bank’s Paperwork Can Defeat Entireties Ownership

Florida’s entireties presumption gives way to a writing that specifies another form of ownership, and Beal Bank recognized two kinds of express disclaimer. The couple signs a statement that entireties ownership is not intended, together with a designation of another ownership form. Or the bank’s signature card offers tenancy by the entirety among the ownership choices and the couple selects something else.

That second form is the trap. The dangerous card is the one that offers the election. In Wexler v. Rich, 80 So. 3d 1097 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012), a bank’s account forms listed “Multiple Party Account-Tenancy by the Entireties” as one choice. A bank employee checked the plain multiple-party option instead, because the couple had asked for “joint accounts.” Neither spouse initialed the selection, and it still defeated the entireties claim.

The bank owed the couple no explanation. The Wexler court held that a bank satisfies its obligation by clearly providing the entireties option and owes the customer no help in choosing wisely. Only a handful of Florida attorneys, the same opinion added, can describe the difference between an entireties account and a survivorship account.

In 2010, a depositor walked into USAmeriBank’s South Tampa branch and said he wanted a tenancy by the entireties account. The employees handed him a signature card with the plain “Multiple Party Account” box already marked, and he and his wife initialed beside it. The card’s own menu included “Multiple Party Account-Tenancy by the Entireties.” Nobody checked that box.

Regions Bank then won a $3,407,620.35 judgment against the husband in September 2012. A garnishment writ served in May 2013 reached $625,305.39 in the account. A magistrate judge read the pre-marked card as “ambiguous and confusing as to the form of ownership” and recommended that the exemption stand. The district judge in Regions Bank v. Hyman disagreed, held the card “an unambiguous contract which contains an express disclaimer,” and let the garnishment proceed.

The couple later sued the bank’s successor for negligence. In Kearney v. Valley National Bank, No. 8:21-cv-00064 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 3, 2022), they represented to the court that years of monthly statements never showed whether the account was held as tenants by the entirety. By their account, nothing the bank mailed them would have revealed the problem. The ownership election lives in the account-opening records, and that is where it has to be checked.

A card with no ownership menu cannot produce that kind of disclaimer, and Florida bankruptcy courts have protected accounts on exactly that ground. In In re Roark, No. 3:21-bk-91 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2021), a VyStar member’s card offered no ownership boxes at all; the court held the couple’s $12,252.58 account exempt. In In re Ingole, No. 2:22-bk-00395 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2023), a Suncoast card’s choices ended at “Joint (Multiple Parties with Survivorship Rights)”; the court let the couple prove their intent, and the $26,709.66 money market account stayed protected.

Since the 2008 amendment, the disclaimer no longer has to sit on the signature card. The statute says “unless otherwise specified in writing,” and in Storey Mountain, LLC v. George, 357 So. 3d 709 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023), the Fourth District held that a disclaimer in any writing incorporated into the signature card counts. The clause it enforced sat in PNC’s standard checking account agreement and said a spousal account “is NOT owned as tenants by the entireties unless otherwise expressly designated.” That clause defeated the presumption.

The disclaimer must actually name tenancy by the entirety and reject it. In Storey Mountain, LLC v. Del Amo (In re Del Amo), 158 F.4th 1335 (11th Cir. 2025), TD Bank’s signature card carried a small-print sentence: joint accounts are owned as joint tenants with right of survivorship. The Eleventh Circuit held the sentence insufficient, because designating a different ownership form disclaims nothing: “It is not enough to say the account is something else.” The couple’s $7,270 account stayed exempt in bankruptcy.

The rule comes with one caveat. Del Amo is a federal court’s reading of Florida law, and the Florida Supreme Court has not addressed the disclaimer question since the 2008 amendment.

The same creditor ran the same theory in both cases. Storey Mountain, LLC reached the PNC account in 2023 and lost against the TD account in 2025. PNC’s agreement named entireties ownership and rejected it; TD’s card did not. The six shown as Disclaims on the chart all pass that test: Truist, PNC, Regions, Fifth Third, Discover, and Fairwinds Credit Union each name tenancy by the entirety and refuse it. No silent bank’s documents do, which is why the presumption survives at those banks.

Are Online Banks and Out-of-State Accounts Protected?

Yes. Nothing in Florida’s entireties statute limits the presumption to accounts at Florida-chartered institutions, so a Florida married couple’s joint account is presumed entireties property wherever the bank sits. An account at an online bank starts from the same default as an account opened at a branch in Tampa.

Online account opening also removes the signature-card trap. An online application asks whether the account is individual or joint; it does not ask how a married couple wants the account owned. Capital One’s application tells a couple to open an individual account first and add the other person afterward. Barclays lists adding joint account holders as a step that comes after the account is open. A path that never offers an ownership menu cannot produce the election Beal Bank treats as a disclaimer.

With no menu in play, the deposit agreement decides everything, and the agreements differ more than the banks do. Discover and Capital One are today one bank publishing two sets of documents; the Discover agreement refuses entireties ownership by name while the Capital One disclosures say nothing about it. Synchrony sits at the other end, with the only online-bank agreement that recognizes entireties ownership for spouses in a state that allows it.

An out-of-state bank changes the creditor’s collection path, not the ownership. A Florida court can garnish only property it has power over. In Navy Federal Credit Union v. Veros Credit, LLC, No. 4D2023-2902 (Fla. 4th DCA Nov. 6, 2024), the Fourth District held that garnishment reaches only property inside Florida; a dispute over where the accounts sit goes to trial.

Documenting Entireties Ownership When the Bank’s Forms Offer No Option

At a bank whose account forms offer no entireties option and whose deposit agreement never disclaims one, a married couple’s joint account is already a tenancy by the entirety under the Florida presumption. The weak point is proof. Years later, a garnishment or a bankruptcy objection forces the couple to show when they married, when they opened the account, and that they never chose another form of ownership.

A declaration signed by both spouses and kept with the account records fixes those facts early. Where the institution offered no entireties option, Beal Bank lets the couple prove their intent by evidence beyond the signature card. A declaration signed while no creditor is in the picture is that evidence, prepared in advance.

What to Do When a Bank Disclaims Tenancy by the Entirety

A married couple whose bank disclaims entireties ownership has one clean fix: open a new joint account at a bank whose documents do not disclaim it, and move the money. Asking the bank to retitle the existing account is not a fix. An account intended as tenants by the entirety has to be titled that way from the day it is opened.

Two of the disclaiming banks leave a door open at account opening. PNC’s clause and Regions’ clause both give way where the couple obtains an express entireties designation on the account records, though PNC reserves the right to refuse the designation in its discretion. Truist, by contrast, bars changing the ownership to anything other than survivorship without the bank’s approval.

An account converted to joint ownership after opening carries a history a creditor can attack. In Smart v. City of Miami Beach, 51 F. Supp. 3d 1299 (S.D. Fla. 2014), the depositor had opened the account alone, before her marriage, and added her husband later. The court held the account was not entireties property because the spouses had never acquired it together, and the writ of garnishment stood.

For bank accounts, the Florida Supreme Court has since closed most of that line of attack. The statutory presumption does not depend on the old common law requirement that both spouses acquire the account at the same time and through the same act. In Loumpos v. Bank One, 423 So. 3d 856 (Fla. 2025), the Court held that Section 655.79 “authorizes a joint spousal bank account to be held as a tenancy by the entireties even if the account was originally established by one spouse.”

The first court to apply Loumpos reached the same result. In In re White, 2026 WL 296894 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. Feb. 4, 2026), a bankruptcy court overruled a creditor’s objection and protected a $70,000 joint checking account. Loumpos is a defense for an account that was already converted; it is not a reason to plan one that way.

The statute also stops at deposit accounts held at banks and credit unions. A brokerage account sits outside it, and the common law rules still control there (Versace v. Uruven, LLC, 348 So. 3d 610, 613 n.2 (Fla. 4th DCA 2022)). A brokerage account converted after opening stands on weaker ground than a bank account with the same history.

Which Bank Is Best for a Tenancy by the Entirety Account?

Chase and Synchrony are the strongest choices on paper, because each states in its deposit agreement that a married couple’s joint account is entireties property. A couple banking there never has to argue the presumption at all. Chase’s clause carries two reservations. The bank may take funds from the account to collect either spouse’s own debts to Chase. It also does not have to determine ownership before answering a garnishment. The protection runs against outside creditors, not against the bank itself.

Any silent bank on the chart also works, because the Florida presumption supplies the ownership there. Three mistakes defeat the protection: selecting a survivorship option on a card that offered entireties, missing an express disclaimer in the account agreement, and adding a spouse to an existing individual account instead of opening a new one. All three happen during account opening, and no choice of bank cures them afterward.