Cashing a Parent's Savings Bonds: FS 5188 POA vs FS 2513 Guardian

Paper savings bonds are often among the last assets an aging parent still holds in their own name, sometimes in a drawer, sometimes in a TreasuryDirect account no one else can open. When a parent can no longer manage money, those bonds are handled by the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which has its own forms for exactly this situation. Two of them cover this situation, and which one applies depends on timing.

Which form applies

FS Form 5188: the durable power of attorney

FS Form 5188, revised April 2026, is titled “Durable Power of Attorney for Securities and Savings Bonds Transactions.” It covers Treasury bills, notes, bonds, TIPS, floating rate notes and “all series of United States Savings Bonds and Savings Notes.”

Durability. The form says the power “is effective until it is revoked in writing” and is “a durable power of attorney that will not be affected by the grantor’s subsequent disability or incapacity.” That is the whole point of signing it early.

Three boxes of authority. The grantor, your parent, checks the boxes that apply:

• Box A authorizes “any and all transactions that Treasury regulations permit an attorney-in-fact to make” on the grantor’s own securities, including the right to sign tax documents. It expressly “does not include the authority to make transfers to the attorney-in-fact or to make gifts to others.”
• Box B extends the authority to securities the grantor holds as a fiduciary, such as a trustee or executor.
• Box C authorizes gifts to others and transfers to the attorney-in-fact. The instructions warn that checking it “will authorize the attorney-in-fact to make transfers of your Treasury securities without limitations.”

The form lists the transactions an attorney-in-fact can make, “changes of payment information, collection of interest, redemptions, transfers, assignments, purchases … or reinvestments,” with one exception: “An attorney-in-fact may not reissue definitive savings bonds.” Definitive bonds are paper bonds.

Cashing works by mail, not at the bank. The Treasury’s Quick Start guide for financial institutions tells banks: “Do NOT cash bonds or notes presented and signed by: an attorney-in-fact (an individual acting under a power of attorney),” and “You may not pay to an attorney-in-fact.” The bank is told to refer the customer to TreasuryDirect’s instructions for cashing by mail, which means sending the bonds, with FS Form 1522 and the power of attorney, to Treasury Retail Securities Services.

Signing. Your parent signs in ink “in the presence of a certifying officer,” with name, address, Social Security number, phone, email and any TreasuryDirect or HH account number. The officer certifies the signature with a financial institution’s official stamp, such as a signature guarantee or Medallion stamp. The form accepts only original signatures and “will not be accepted with alterations or corrections.”

Revoking it. Changes or revocations “must be in writing (notarized or certified) and sent to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.” The form also says that if you have questions about the powers it grants, “you should seek professional legal advice before signing.”

FS Form 2513: when a parent can no longer sign

FS Form 2513, revised August 2022, is the “Application by Voluntary Guardian of Incapacitated Owner of United States Savings Bonds or Savings Notes.” It exists for the case FS Form 5188 cannot fix: the parent is already incapacitated and never signed a power of attorney.

Who may apply. “Any relative who is actually supporting or otherwise looking after the affairs of the incapacitated person may apply or, if none, anyone who is a proper person to represent the incapacitated person’s interests may apply.” The applicant certifies that the owner is an adult who is “mentally incapacitated and can’t handle his or her own affairs,” and that no court has appointed a guardian, no one else is qualified to act, and no appointment is pending.

The $20,000 cap. To cash bonds, the applicant certifies that “the redemption value of ALL savings bonds plus the redemption value of ALL savings notes” belonging to the incapacitated person does not exceed $20,000. The value is determined on the date the Bureau of the Fiscal Service receives the request. If the total is higher, the instructions say the form “must not be used to request payment; instead, a legal representative must be appointed for the incapacitated person by the court having jurisdiction.” The cap counts all of the person’s savings bonds and notes, not only the ones you are cashing, and the form asks you to list any other holdings on a separate sheet.

Proof of incapacity. If a court has declared the owner incompetent, a copy of the court order certified under the court’s seal. Otherwise, a statement from the attending physician “on the physician’s professional stationery,” describing the condition and whether the owner “is mentally competent to engage in business transactions.” For a patient in a public institution, the chief medical officer can provide it.

Other people’s consent. If anyone else contributes to the parent’s care and support, the form asks for their names, and their consents must be obtained when payment is requested.

What you promise. The applicant agrees that “the proceeds will be used for the benefit and support of the incapacitated person,” and signs an indemnity holding the United States harmless against other claims to the bonds. Proceeds go by direct deposit to the account named on the form. The form still carries a separate step for Series H and HH bond interest — “You must complete a direct deposit form, FS Form 5396 or SF 1199A, and submit it with this application” — although TreasuryDirect says HH interest payments ceased on August 1, 2024, once every HH bond reached final maturity. Our FS Form 5396 guide explains when that sign-up form is still needed.

What else it does. Besides payment, the form can request interest on Series H or HH bonds, electronic replacements for lost, stolen or destroyed bonds (with FS Form 1048), reinvestment of matured Series E bonds, and the release of confidential information about the parent’s bonds, which is often the first step when no one knows what the parent owns.

Certification. The applicant, and anyone consenting, signs before a certifying officer. The form says plainly: “Notary certification is NOT acceptable,” and “brokers must use a medallion stamp.”

Two examples

A parent who planned ahead. A mother with $40,000 of paper EE and I bonds signs FS Form 5188 at her credit union in 2026, checking box A and naming her son. Three years later she develops dementia. Her son can still cash the bonds for her, because the form is durable, but he has to do it by mail through Treasury Retail Securities Services; her bank is not allowed to pay an attorney-in-fact. He cannot move the bonds into his own name unless she also checked box C.

A parent who did not. A father with no power of attorney is in memory care, and his daughter finds $14,000 of savings bonds among his papers. She can apply as voluntary guardian on FS Form 2513 with a statement from his physician, as long as no court guardian exists and his total savings bonds and notes, including any she has not yet found, are worth $20,000 or less. If they turn out to be worth $26,000, FS Form 2513 cannot be used for payment, and the family needs a court-appointed guardian or conservator. TreasuryDirect’s route for a court-ordered change for a living owner is FS Form 4000 with the bonds and the court order or letters of appointment; EE and I bonds are then reissued in electronic form, into a TreasuryDirect account, rather than paid out.

FS Form 5456: permission to share information is not power to act

A third Treasury form is easy to mistake for the other two. FS Form 5456, revised April 2026, is titled “Authorization for Release of Information.” It is a single page, and its entire operative text is one sentence. The person signing states that they “authorize the Bureau of the Fiscal Service to release all information to” a named person, “concerning United States securities on which I am named or to which I am entitled.” The form has lines for two such names.

Look at what the page asks for: the name of the person authorizing the release, the name of each person who may receive information, a date and a signature. FS Forms 5188 and 2513 must be signed in front of a certifying officer who affixes an official seal or stamp; FS Form 5456 has no certification block at all. It does carry the standard warning that “any false, fictitious, or fraudulent claim or statement to the United States is a crime and may be prosecuted,” and it asks you to print in ink or type.

The difference between this form and FS Form 5188 is the difference between information and authority. FS Form 5456 authorizes the Fiscal Service to release information, and the form grants nothing beyond that. Nothing on it mentions redemptions, changes of payment information, transfers or tax documents, all of which FS Form 5188 lists among the transactions an attorney-in-fact can handle. A relative who holds only an FS Form 5456 has no authority under it to cash a bond or to sign for the owner.

For a family, that points to a sensible order of operations. If your parent is still able to sign, FS Form 5456 lets the Fiscal Service release to you information about the securities on which your parent is named or to which they are entitled. If you will need to act, the step that matters is FS Form 5188, signed in front of a certifying officer while your parent still can. FS Form 5456 is written in the first person and signed by the person authorizing the release, so it is a tool for a parent who can still sign. Once that point has passed, with no court guardian and no FS Form 5188 on file, FS Form 2513 has its own box for the same purpose: “Release of confidential information on savings bonds or savings notes on which the incapacitated person is named owner or coowner, or to which he or she has become entitled.” The $20,000 limit on FS Form 2513 is tied to payment: above it, the form “must not be used to request payment.”

Practical points

• FS Forms 5188 and 2513 go to the same place: Treasury Retail Securities Services, PO Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150, with any bonds being cashed. FS Form 5188 says legal evidence you submit “cannot be returned.”
• Certifying officers, not notaries. Our table of TreasuryDirect forms by certification type lists which forms take which.
• Names that do not match. If a bond carries a parent’s earlier name, see FS Form 0385, the Certificate of Identity.
• Get FS Form 5188 signed early. It is the only one of these routes that does not depend on a value cap or a court.

Sources

• Bureau of the Fiscal Service — FS Form 5188, Durable Power of Attorney for Securities and Savings Bonds Transactions, revised April 2026
• Bureau of the Fiscal Service — FS Form 2513, Application by Voluntary Guardian of Incapacitated Owner of United States Savings Bonds or Savings Notes, revised August 2022
• Bureau of the Fiscal Service — FS Form 5456, Authorization for Release of Information, revised April 2026
• TreasuryDirect — Changing information about EE or I savings bonds (reissuing): court-ordered changes for a living owner with FS Form 4000
• TreasuryDirect — Forms for Savings Bonds