Investment from deceased parent
Dad invested with a firm, he passed away in October. We keep filling out paper work to access his account,there is always one more thing to do. Merrill Lynch is stalling us ,can you please give me some advise on what to do.
Terry Says
Contact the branch manager and tell him that you are going to report this to FINRA — the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority! Did you present them with the death certificate — and your role as executor of the will? And were these stocks in an IRA with a beneficiary, or only in his name, or perhaps in joint name with his wife?
The real issue is what do you want to do with the stocks and bonds he owned.
You should have some advice on that — and not from THEM!
You need to know that if you sell those stocks right now (assuming they are just in his name), there will be very little capital gains tax. Their “cost” will be their value on the date of his death. So definitely keep the monthly statement from the date of his death, to establish this cost basis.
If, perhaps, the account was an Individual Retirement Account, there is an entirely different set of rules, though! Then it should be moved into an IRA rollover account for the “decedent” (not necessarily at Merrill –but perhaps at Fidelity or Vanguard). They will take care of the rollover. And the money will be moved into an IRA rollover account of the decedent. Then it will be distributed to beneficiaries, named on the account. The beneficiaries can roll it over into an inherited IRA of their own — and if not a spouse, must be distributed within 10 years. And those distributions will be taxable.
So it’s more than just “getting” the money from Merrill. It depends on how the account was titled. If you still run into a roadblock with this info, then please write back and I’ll get on a call to the branch manager with you and try to get it straightened out! (Feel free to use this offer as a “threat”!!)
