Fidelity’s Transfer on Death form, formally titled Beneficiaries — Nonretirement Transfer on Death, is the paper or online designation you use to name who inherits the securities and cash in a nonretirement brokerage account when you die, bypassing probate. You list each beneficiary’s identifying details, assign percentage shares that total 100%, and submit the form through your account profile, by digital upload, or by mail. Your control over the account does not change during your lifetime; the beneficiaries take nothing until you die.
Which Accounts the Form Covers
The form applies to three registration types: individual accounts, joint tenants with rights of survivorship, and tenants by the entirety.1Fidelity. Beneficiaries — Nonretirement Transfer on Death On a joint account, the beneficiaries only inherit after the last surviving owner dies.2Fidelity. Fidelity Advisor Transfer on Death Account Registration
Several account types cannot use this form. Tenants-in-common and community property accounts are ineligible.1Fidelity. Beneficiaries — Nonretirement Transfer on Death Retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k)s use their own separate beneficiary process. A 529 plan uses a successor participant designation instead. Trust-held and business-entity accounts follow their own governing documents.
Online or Paper
If you are naming eight or fewer primary and eight or fewer contingent beneficiaries, you can set up or update the designation entirely online through your Fidelity account profile, and the change usually takes effect immediately.3Fidelity Investments. FAQs About Beneficiary Updates Use the paper form if you need more than eight in either tier, or if you simply prefer paper. Download it from Fidelity’s forms library or request a copy by phone.
What to Enter for Each Beneficiary
For an individual, the form asks for the beneficiary’s full legal name as it appears on a government-issued ID such as a driver’s license or passport, Social Security number, and date of birth.1Fidelity. Beneficiaries — Nonretirement Transfer on Death For an entity such as a trust or charity, enter the entity’s full legal name, mailing address, and tax identification number.2Fidelity. Fidelity Advisor Transfer on Death Account Registration For a trust, put the trust’s creation date in the date field.
Get the names right. A misspelled name or transposed digit in a Social Security number can force your family to submit extra documentation before Fidelity releases anything.
Primary and Contingent
Each person or entity is marked as either primary or contingent. Primary beneficiaries are first in line. Contingent beneficiaries inherit only if every primary beneficiary has predeceased you. Naming contingents is the safety net that keeps the account out of probate if your first choices are gone.
Percentages
Assign each beneficiary a percentage. The primary shares must total exactly 100%, and if you name contingents, their shares must also total 100%.1Fidelity. Beneficiaries — Nonretirement Transfer on Death If you leave the percentage fields blank, Fidelity divides the account equally among the primary beneficiaries, or among the contingents if the primaries are all gone.
Per Stirpes
The form has a per stirpes checkbox next to each beneficiary. Check it, and if that beneficiary dies before you but leaves living descendants, their share flows down to their children, split equally at each generation.1Fidelity. Beneficiaries — Nonretirement Transfer on Death Leave it unchecked, and a deceased beneficiary’s share is lost; only the specifically named people alive at your death receive anything. For most parents naming adult children, checking per stirpes is the low-effort way to keep an outdated form from misdirecting assets.
Naming a Minor
You can name a minor child without designating a custodian on the form. At distribution, Fidelity has discretion to pay the minor’s share to a parent, a legal guardian, an existing UTMA or UGMA custodial account, or another person with custody of the child.1Fidelity. Beneficiaries — Nonretirement Transfer on Death If none of those apply, Fidelity may require a court-appointed guardian first. If you want tighter control over how a young beneficiary receives a large sum, name a trust instead of the child directly.
Submitting the Form
If you filed online, you’re done; the update typically posts right away.3Fidelity Investments. FAQs About Beneficiary Updates For the paper form, sign it and choose one of two routes:
- Digital upload. Scan or photograph every page, then upload at Fidelity.com/upload-Bene or through the QR code printed on the form.1Fidelity. Beneficiaries — Nonretirement Transfer on Death
- Mail. Standard mail goes to Fidelity Investments, PO Box 770001, Cincinnati, OH 45277-0002. For express delivery, use Fidelity Investments, 100 Crosby Parkway KC1H, Covington, KY 41015.4Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Mailing Addresses
After you submit, check your account profile or message center for confirmation. If Fidelity needs spousal consent or additional paperwork, it will notify you before the designation takes effect.3Fidelity Investments. FAQs About Beneficiary Updates
Changing Beneficiaries Later
You can update your beneficiaries at any time by logging in and making the change online, or by submitting a new paper form. Each new designation fully replaces the previous one; you don’t have to revoke the old version separately. The named beneficiaries have no legal say in the account while you’re alive and don’t need to know they’re on the form.5Cornell Law Institute. Uniform Transfer-on-Death Securities Registration Act
If every named beneficiary, primary and contingent, dies before you and you never update the form, the account drops into your probate estate. Review the designation after a marriage, divorce, birth, or death in the family.
How This Fits With Your Will
The TOD form overrides your will for this account. If your will leaves the brokerage account to one person but the TOD form names someone else, the TOD form wins because the account never enters the estate that the will controls.6Fidelity. Do You Need an Estate Plan Any time you revise your estate plan, pull up the TOD designation and confirm it still matches.
Skipping probate is not the same as blocking every claim. In states that follow the Uniform Probate Code, a surviving spouse can elect against the will and reach nonprobate transfers, including TOD accounts, through the augmented estate.7Legal Information Institute. Augmented Estate Creditors and Medicaid estate recovery programs can sometimes reach TOD assets as well when the probate estate is short. Naming a specific person or entity rather than your “estate” preserves the nonprobate status; assets payable to your estate lose that protection.