Identification

• Financial institutions, such as banks and credit unions, sell and redeem EE savings bonds on behalf of the treasury department. Under treasury rules, a financial institution employee must verify the identity of the bond owner before redeeming the bond. You can redeem a bond without presenting a form of valid identification if you redeem it at a financial institution where you have held an account for at least six months. Alternatively, a financial institution employee may cash the bond for you if you present a valid form of identification such as a drivers license. Many children neither have a valid ID nor a bank account. However, you can also redeem a bond if an established accountholder can vouch for your identity, which means that you could identify your child as the bond owner.
  
  

Parents

• Under treasury department rules, a parent or guardian can cash a savings bond on behalf of a minor who cannot understand the transaction. However, the treasury rules do not impose an age limit or provide a detailed explanation of what "understanding" the transaction actually means. Some banks require parents to redeem bonds on behalf of minors, while other banks only require parents to redeem bonds on behalf of very young children. However, a bank can simply refuse to cash a bond for a young child or for the legal parent or guardian of that child.
  
  

Direct Redemption

• If your local financial institution refuses to cash an EE bond, the person who attempted to cash the bond can redeem the bond by mailing it directly to the treasury department office. This office will cash the bond if a bank employee establishes your identity and stamps a signature guarantee on the bond. You cannot get such a guarantee without providing a banker with a valid form of ID. Since many children do not have IDs, this means that a bank employee normally has to guarantee the signature of a parent or guardian. Therefore, the parent or guardian actually ends up redeeming the bond on behalf of the minor.
  
  

Beneficiary

• When minors are named as pay-on-death beneficiaries rather than bond owners, then bond redemptions become even more complicated. The minor must first provide the bank or the treasury department with proof, such as a death certificate, that the bond holder died. Thereafter, the minor can attempt to negotiate the bond in the same manner that he would negotiate a bond that he owned. Therefore, the parent or guardian may have to get involved as the bank may refuse to cash the bond for the child.