You can still get physical stock certificates for some companies, but fewer every year. Whether a particular company will issue you one depends on the law of its state of incorporation and its own charter or bylaws, and many of the largest U.S. corporations have stopped offering them entirely. Where certificates are still available, the request goes through the company’s transfer agent, costs money, and takes weeks.
Whether the Company You Own Still Issues Them
The SEC has said plainly that entitlement to a physical certificate “is a matter of state, not federal, law,” and that a company can eliminate the right to receive one if state law and its governing documents allow it.1Investor.gov. Investor Bulletin: Holding Your Securities Many large issuers have done exactly that. Disney, for example, no longer issues stock certificates at all; its transfer agent, Computershare, notes that once shares move into direct registration, certificate issuance is permanently unavailable for those holdings.2Computershare. Welcome Disney Shareholders
The direction of the industry is unmistakable. The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, which handles the vast majority of U.S. securities settlement, has been pushing for full dematerialization since at least 2020, with stated goals that include ending new physical issuances and converting any remaining certificates to electronic form through the transfer agent.3DTCC. From Physical to Digital Some smaller and mid-cap companies still permit certificate issuance. Some vendors also sell decorative replica certificates that look authentic but represent no ownership. Before you spend time on paperwork, call the company’s investor relations department or its transfer agent and ask whether real certificates are actually available for that stock.
How to Request a Certificate
The request goes to the transfer agent, not your brokerage. Transfer agents such as Computershare and Equiniti (formerly American Stock Transfer) keep the official shareholder records for the companies they serve. You can find the right transfer agent in the investor relations section of the company’s website.4Investor.gov. Transfer Agents
If Your Shares Are in a Brokerage Account
Shares bought through a broker are almost always held in “street name,” meaning your brokerage is the owner on the company’s books and you are the beneficial owner on the broker’s internal records.5U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Street Name To get a certificate, you first have to move the shares out of street name and into direct registration (DRS) with the transfer agent, where the shares are held electronically in your own name on the issuer’s books.6FINRA. 7Federal Register. Transfer Agent Regulations Confirm that the mailing address on file with the transfer agent is your current address before you send anything. A mismatch will delay or block delivery.
Most transfer agents require a Medallion Signature Guarantee on the form. This is not a notarization. A Medallion guarantee is a specialized stamp issued by a bank, credit union, or broker-dealer that participates in one of the Medallion Signature Guarantee Programs, and it protects against forged transfer instructions.8Investor.gov. Medallion Signature Guarantees: Preventing the Unauthorized Transfer of Securities You generally need to have an existing relationship with the institution providing it. A notary stamp is not a substitute, and most transfer agents will reject one.
What It Costs
The SEC warns that holding a physical certificate “might” involve an issuance fee.1Investor.gov. Investor Bulletin: Holding Your Securities Transfer agent fees in practice typically run from around $25 to several hundred dollars per certificate, depending on the company and the agent. Ask for the fee schedule in writing before submitting the request.
That’s not the only cost. Your broker may charge for the DRS transfer. If you later want to sell, your broker may charge a deposit or processing fee to accept the certificate back in. And if the certificate is ever lost, replacing it is expensive on its own terms.
What Owning Paper Actually Means
A certificate is a real document that has to be stored, mailed, endorsed, and insured. That changes several things.
Selling Is Slower
U.S. equities now settle on a T+1 basis, meaning trades must be completed by the next business day. The SEC has cautioned that certificate holders may need to deliver their certificates to a broker earlier to meet the shorter settlement window.9FINRA. Understanding Settlement Cycles: What Does T+1 Mean for You? You cannot call your broker and sell paper shares on the spot. The certificate must first be deposited and converted to electronic form, which can take days or weeks. To deposit it, you endorse the back or sign a separate stock power, typically with a Medallion Signature Guarantee, and the certificate goes to the transfer agent for conversion.8Investor.gov. Medallion Signature Guarantees: Preventing the Unauthorized Transfer of Securities Not every brokerage still accepts physical certificates, so confirm with yours before mailing anything.1Investor.gov. Investor Bulletin: Holding Your Securities
If you do mail one, use USPS Registered Mail. The Postal Service treats stock certificates endorsed in blank as negotiable instruments and will insure them based on market value at the time of mailing, up to a maximum of $50,000.10Postal Explorer. Domestic Mail Manual – 503 Extra Services For holdings worth more than that, think carefully about splitting the shipment or using a specialized courier.
Losing One Is Expensive
Under the Uniform Commercial Code, a company must issue a replacement certificate if the owner files a sufficient indemnity bond and meets other reasonable requirements set by the issuer.11Cornell Law School. Uniform Commercial Code 8-405 – Replacement of Lost, Destroyed, or Wrongfully Taken Security Certificate That indemnity bond typically costs 2% to 3% of the current market value of the missing shares.12Investor.gov. Lost or Stolen Stock Certificates On a $50,000 position, that’s $1,000 to $1,500 just for the bond, plus a notarized affidavit of loss and any processing fees. The whole replacement can take weeks. Store the certificate in a fireproof safe or a safe deposit box, and keep a photo of the front and back somewhere separate.
Shares Can Be Taken by the State
Certificate holders face escheatment risk that active brokerage account holders usually don’t. Under the Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act, adopted in varying forms across states, the dormancy period for securities is generally three years, triggered when mail to the owner is returned as undeliverable. Some states still use five years. The fix is simple: keep your address current with the transfer agent, respond to correspondence, and cash dividend checks or log in to your transfer agent account at least once a year. If shares have already been escheated, you can file a claim with your state’s unclaimed property office, though the state may have liquidated them.
Heirs Will Have to Deal With It
Physical certificates become part of your estate unless you set up Transfer on Death (TOD) registration. Nearly every state allows TOD for securities. To add a TOD beneficiary to certificated shares, surrender the certificates to the transfer agent with a stock power form and a letter requesting the change; the agent reissues the shares in TOD form. Without TOD, the certificates go through probate, or through a simplified small-estate affidavit if your estate falls under the state threshold (roughly $10,000 to $275,000, depending on the state). An executor processing certificated shares should expect to send the transfer agent a certified death certificate, letters testamentary or letters of administration, a Medallion Signature Guarantee on transfer documents, and the original certificates. Any gap stalls the transfer.
Cost Basis Becomes Your Problem
When you eventually sell certificated shares, the broker often has no record of what you originally paid. The shares are treated as “noncovered securities,” and the broker can leave the cost basis field on Form 1099-B blank.13Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-B You then have to determine and report the basis yourself on Form 8949.14Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8949 Keep every purchase confirmation, dividend reinvestment statement, and transfer document. Inherited shares generally get a stepped-up basis as of the date of death; gifted shares carry over the donor’s basis. Getting this wrong can mean overpaying capital gains tax or underreporting and facing penalties.
Is It Worth the Trouble?
If you want ownership-on-the-books status without the paper, direct registration gives you most of what a certificate does. Your shares are in your own name on the issuer’s books, you receive dividends and proxy materials directly, and there is nothing to lose or mail. If you want the physical document for sentimental or display reasons and the company still issues them, the path is clear: move the shares into DRS, submit the transfer agent’s form with a Medallion Signature Guarantee, pay the issuance fee, and wait. Just go in knowing the paper costs money to get, money to replace, and time to sell.