Brokerage Beneficiary forms – adding wording
In the past I have used Seymour Goldberg’s recommended wording on my Schwab, TD, and Fidelity beneficiary forms. It is particularly important for Schwab forms, since they do not default to per stirpes. We also need it where children are listed as individual beneficiaries. We need UTMA instructions.
Anyway, Schwab told us that we no longer can add UTMA wording to the beneficiary form. We would need an attachment. That is ok but we prefer adding it to the form since an attachment has a higher likelihood of being lost.
I have asked Schwab to reconsider. They are meeting with a committee about this.
Has anyone had any luck adding wording in recent years to the beneficiary forms?
Many thanks as always … Mary Dean
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Fri, 2013-12-20 02:41
I don’t understand your comment about defaulting to per stirpes. Did you mean “default” or just accept a per stirpes designation? You may not need an UTMA specification if your state law requires it because all custodian IRA agreements must conform to state law requirements.
Permalink Submitted by Bruce Steiner on Fri, 2013-12-20 16:13
We almost always use an attachment. If the share of a minor is too small to warrant administering a trust, we would make it payable to a custodian under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act, to avoid the need for a guardianship.