u/TesterReddy

I just noticed that one of my two Schwab accounts has Fisher Investments with Withdrawal Power Financial Advisor. The other is Limited Power Financial Advisor. I thought that they were only to have Limited Power Financial Advisor access.

Does anyone else have a Schwab account with Fisher having Withdrawal Power Financial Advisor?

I'm not even sure where to start with this because it seems quite convoluted to me with all of the entities/factors involved...

• My grandfather passed away and I am the successor trustee for his schwab account.
• He has a Trust.
• He does not have a Will.
• I have access to his Schwab account since he gave me his username/pw. This is not Schwab authorized access. I helped my grandfather with moving funds in/out of his Schwab account and buying some stocks/funds when he asked. He told me he would give me full account access (Schwab authorized) but I never followed up with it.
• HIs Schwab account is still in his name (it was never renamed/funded into the Trust)
• He has 4 account types for his Schwab account (here they are with beneficiary status):
  1. one Individual account that is managed by Fisher Investments--no beneficiary named per the Schwab website
  2. another is a Rollover IRA--the Trust is the Beneficiary
  3. another is a Roth Contributary IRA -- the Trust is the Beneficiary
  4. and another Individual account -- no beneficiary named
• I have not notified Schwab or Fisher investments of his passing.

My goal is to gain access to the funds so I can make a distributions to beneficiaries without probate. I really just want to get this over as soon as I can. I am just beside myself that he passed away and I don't want to focus on this much more.

Here are my main concerns/questions:

A. Could I log into his account and add the Trust as beneficiary to his 2 accounts that don't have beneficiaries? My concern is that Schwab may, at some point, notice that the beneficiary was named after he passed.

B. Could I log into his Schwab account and grant myself account access so I can remove Fisher Investments as advisor and, also, add the Trust as beneficiary to the 2 accounts that don't have beneficiaries named?

C. Could his account that Fisher Investment manages, have a listed beneficiary? He didn't have online access to his Fisher account, he always just talked to a Fisher representative over the phone.

D. What's likely to happen with his two Schwab accounts that don't have listed beneficiaries?

E. Who should I notify first of his passing? Schwab or Fisher? I imagine if I notify Schwab first, the online account will be locked and Fisher won't speak with me about the beneficiary, if any, for his Fisher Investments managed account. If I contact Fisher Investments first, about his passing, they may still not provide me the beneficiary, if any, and they will notify Schwab and they will lock the online account.

Thanks