The Fidelity Account Authority form is the PDF you use to give another person permission to view, trade, or manage assets in your Fidelity brokerage or retirement account. You download it from Fidelity’s forms library, complete eight sections covering your identity, the accounts involved, the authority level you want to grant, and the new agent’s personal information, then submit it by document upload, mail, or in person at a Fidelity Investor Center. If you’re granting Full Authority, the account owner’s signature needs a Medallion signature guarantee from a participating financial institution, so plan that step before you sit down with the form.
Pick the Authority Level First
The form offers two levels: Limited Authority and Full Authority. View-only access, which Fidelity calls Inquiry Access, is set up separately through your online account and is not handled on this form.1Fidelity. How to Authorize Others to Access Your Accounts
Limited Authority lets the agent see the account and also buy and sell securities, trade options (if the account is approved for them), incur margin debt, and update cost basis information.1Fidelity. How to Authorize Others to Access Your Accounts The agent can also try to cancel or replace orders that either of you placed.2Fidelity. Screen Help – About Authorized Accounts Limited Authority does not include withdrawing cash, transferring funds to outside accounts, or making tax elections.
Full Authority adds everything Limited leaves out: withdrawals, transfers, tax elections, and for IRAs, rollovers, recharacterizations, and Roth conversions.1Fidelity. How to Authorize Others to Access Your Accounts Some actions may still require a phone call to Fidelity at 800-544-6666 rather than being available online.2Fidelity. Screen Help – About Authorized Accounts
Neither level allows the agent to change beneficiary designations. Beneficiary forms require the signature of all account owners; an authorized agent’s signature won’t satisfy that requirement.3Fidelity. Beneficiaries – Nonretirement Transfer on Death For IRA and retirement plan accounts, the agent also cannot establish a new IRA or retirement plan on your behalf.4Fidelity. Account Authority
Accounts That Don’t Belong on This Form
The form works for individual and joint brokerage accounts and for most retirement accounts, but not everything. Its instructions state that it should not be used for fiduciary accounts such as trusts, for workplace retirement plans like 401(k)s, or to add someone who will be paid for managing the investments.4Fidelity. Account Authority For a trust account or a 401(k), contact Fidelity directly; those use separate processes.
Filling Out the Eight Sections
Download the form from Fidelity’s forms library by searching for “Account Authority,” or reach it through the account access rights page on Fidelity.com.1Fidelity. How to Authorize Others to Access Your Accounts
Sections 1 and 2: Owner and Account Numbers
Section 1 asks for the name of each account owner. On a joint account, both owners’ names go here. Section 2 lists the accounts the agent will access, with space for up to six account numbers. List every account you want covered on this one form; otherwise you’ll have to submit a separate form for each.4Fidelity. Account Authority
Section 3: Authority Level
Choose Limited Authority or Full Authority. You cannot mix levels across the accounts listed on one form. If you want Limited on your brokerage account and Full on your IRA, use two forms. Selecting Full Authority triggers the Medallion signature guarantee requirement; if you skip that step, Fidelity will default the request down to Limited Authority.4Fidelity. Account Authority
Section 4: Existing Agents
If someone already has authority on the account, Section 4 decides what happens to them. The three choices are keeping all existing agents in place (the default if you skip the section), removing all existing agents, or removing only a specific agent by name.4Fidelity. Account Authority This is also the section to use if the only thing you want to do is revoke someone’s access.
Section 5: The New Agent’s Information
This is the longest section and the most common source of processing delays. For the person you’re adding, you’ll need to supply:
- Full legal name, Social Security number or ITIN, date of birth, and relationship to the account owner.
- Mobile phone, email address, legal residential address, and mailing address if different.
- Citizenship status: U.S. citizen, foreign citizen, permanent U.S. resident, nonpermanent U.S. resident, or nonresident.
- Government-issued ID details: passport number, permanent resident card number, or another government ID, including country of issuance, issue date, and expiration date.
- Employment status (employed, self-employed, retired, or not employed), occupation, employer name and address, and source of income.
- Whether the agent is associated with a broker-dealer, a member exchange, or FINRA, and whether the agent is a control person of a publicly traded company.
Section 5 also includes checkboxes asking whether Fidelity should send the agent duplicate account statements or trade confirmations. Check them if you want the agent to receive their own copies.4Fidelity. Account Authority
Sections 6 and 7: Signatures
Section 6 is for the agent’s printed name, signature, and date. Section 7 is for the account owner’s printed name, signature, and date. Both signatures are required, and on a joint account every owner must sign.4Fidelity. Account Authority
Section 8: Plan Administrator Signature
Section 8 applies only to defined contribution retirement plan accounts. For a regular brokerage account or an IRA, leave it blank. For a defined contribution plan, the plan administrator or employer must sign and date this section before Fidelity will process the form.4Fidelity. Account Authority
The Medallion Signature Guarantee
This is the step that catches most people off guard. If you selected Full Authority in Section 3, the account owner’s signature in Section 7 needs a Medallion signature guarantee, which is a special stamp that participating banks, credit unions, and broker-dealers apply to verify your identity. A notary seal is not the same thing and will not be accepted.4Fidelity. Account Authority
You can usually get a Medallion stamp at a bank or brokerage where you hold an account. Call ahead. Not every branch offers the service, and some require an appointment. If you complete the form in person at a Fidelity Investor Center with all signers present, the Medallion guarantee is waived entirely.4Fidelity. Account Authority
If you submit the form requesting Full Authority without the Medallion guarantee, Fidelity won’t reject it outright. The request will be processed as Limited Authority, and you’d need to resubmit with the guarantee to upgrade.4Fidelity. Account Authority
Submitting the Completed Form
There are three ways to get the form to Fidelity. The fastest for most people is the Document Upload service through Fidelity.com or the mobile app: log in, open the upload feature, and submit a scan or clear photo of every page.5Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Mailing Addresses If you needed a Medallion guarantee, you’ll still have to handle the physical signing before scanning.
By mail, send the original signed form to the address listed on Fidelity’s mailing addresses page for your account type; overnight delivery is available for time-sensitive requests. The third option is to complete the form at a Fidelity Investor Center with all signers present, which both waives the Medallion requirement and lets a representative check the form for completeness on the spot.
Processing usually takes three to five business days after Fidelity receives the form.6Fidelity. How to Set Up and Use a Power of Attorney If fields are incomplete or signatures don’t match, Fidelity will contact the account owner with instructions on what needs to be corrected. You’ll receive an email when processing is complete.
Removing or Changing an Agent
Revoking an authorized agent uses the same form. Fill in Sections 1 and 2 to identify yourself and the accounts, then in Section 4 choose either “Remove all existing authorized agents” or “Remove only the following authorized agent” and write in the person’s name.4Fidelity. Account Authority You do not need the agent’s signature or cooperation to revoke their access.
To downgrade someone from Full to Limited Authority, or to swap one agent for another, submit a new form with the updated selections. Removal and addition can happen on the same form: use Section 4 to remove the old agent and Section 5 to add the new one.
Who Is Liable for What the Agent Does
The account owner carries full financial responsibility for everything the authorized agent does on the account. The form’s customer agreement states that you accept sole liability for the financial, tax, and other consequences of all actions and instructions your agent carries out, and that Fidelity is not responsible for losses resulting from the agent’s decisions or failures to act.4Fidelity. Account Authority
The agent, for their part, agrees to be solely responsible to the account owner for all investment decisions, trading strategies, and instructions they place.4Fidelity. Account Authority In practice, if your agent makes a bad trade or moves money somewhere it shouldn’t go, your dispute is with the agent, not with Fidelity.
Given those stakes, grant the minimum level of authority the situation actually requires. If the goal is to let a family member place trades while you’re traveling, Limited Authority covers it without opening the account to withdrawals. Reserve Full Authority for situations where the agent genuinely needs to move money, such as managing an aging parent’s finances or handling accounts during a prolonged absence.