Death of a Client

If a customer dies, the representative must cancel all open orders, mark the account “deceased,” and freeze the account.

All powers of attorney or third party authorization, such as discretionary authority, are immediately terminated. The executor of the customer’s estate typically transfers the assets in the account to an estate account. No changes can be made, however, until the proper legal documents are provided. These commonly include:

• • Letters testamentary—documents issued by a court to verify the identity of the executor
• • Inheritance tax waivers—forms for transferring a deceased person’s shares to another person; it is not required in every state
• • Death certificate—certified copy
• • Affidavit of domicile—notarized document that verifies where a deceased person lived at the ti