Access to funds in case of death

[Sheen]

I am looking for a way to allow one of my family members to withdraw funds from my aacount held with a US broker in case of my death or incapacity.
My broker says there is no way to do it other than setting up an entity account, providing dozens of documents etc. which would probably cost a fortune.
Is there nothing like a power of attorney that would do the trick?
Is opening a joint account a good solution?

 

[Lightning McQueen]

when you die your family inherit your estate. the funds in your brokerage account are part of your estate. so i fail to see what you are worried about.

or am i missing your point?

 

[NVP]

I am looking for a way to allow one of my family members to withdraw funds from my aacount held with a US broker in case of my death or incapacity.
My broker says there is no way to do it other than setting up an entity account, providing dozens of documents etc. which would probably cost a fortune.
Is there nothing like a power of attorney that would do the trick?
Is opening a joint account a good solution?

just give your password to someone........

 

[rsh01]

Why don't you just stick some money into a joint account? You do trust your wife/family? Or just leave the details in the will.

 

[Joules MM1]

My broker says there is no way to do it

first he's your broker not your barrister or solicitor specialist in family estates or family trust for your jurisdiction......go ask the right person......be very few places on the earth that dont have a power of attorney facility regardless of what the function is called

when i first read the title of this thread i almost blew my coffee over the screen, how i could take out the money when i'm dead.....

 

[NVP]

better still....give me the password

 

[avfx]

Doesn't really apply to your US specific question but certain well known swiss broker/bank has following statement on their site. You could mention this to your broker and ask them to look into it and putting up some similar FAQ/procedure statement about such scenario.

In case of dormancy (account), it might be difficult or impossible to (broker) to reestablish contact with you / your heirs. In order to avoid dormancy, (broker) recommends that you:

inform us immediately if you change your address, or if you use a different name, e.g. following marriage;
inform us if you go away for an extended period of time and arrange for correspondence;
inform a trusted person about your bank details. (broker) can only give information to such a person if you have first authorised him or her in writing to act on your behalf by filling this form;
list your assets and the name of the respective bank(s) where they are deposited in your will.
(broker) is obliged to report all dormant accounts in excess of CHF 100.- to a central databank to which only the Swiss Banking Ombudsman (Schweizerischer Bankenombudsman) can access. Every person suspecting assets to which they are entitled to with an unknown bank in Switzerland can ask the Central Claims Office of the Swiss Banking Ombudsman for the polling of the databank of all dormant customer relationships.

(broker) reserves the right to charge your account with any expenses incurred by the steps undertaken to reestablish the contact with you or to contact your heirs.

 

[forker]

Open a family trust and have that trust own the account. Obviously you need to agree this with your broker. If you were to hit those pearly white gates, the money is safe.