The Robinhood estates form is the starting point for accessing a deceased person’s brokerage account, and you can reach it at robinhood.com/contact without logging in. The form collects identifying information about the deceased and the person handling the estate, along with a copy of the death certificate. After you submit, an estates representative reviews the file and follows up to walk you through the transfer or liquidation.1Robinhood. Losing a Loved One
What to Gather Before You Start
The form is short, but having everything ready saves a round-trip. You need details on two people: the deceased account holder and yourself as the representative.
For the deceased:
- Full legal name, exactly as it appeared on the Robinhood account
- Social Security number, used to locate and verify the account
- Date of birth
- Date of death
For yourself, the form asks for your name, contact information, date of birth, and your relationship to the deceased. You also upload a photo or scan of your government-issued ID showing both the front and back.
The other required upload is the death certificate. Robinhood asks that all four corners be visible in the image and that the seal, if there is one, be included.1Robinhood. Losing a Loved One
One detail catches people off guard. Robinhood specifically tells you not to send wills, trusts, or other estate planning documents with the initial form. If a specific legal document is needed, the estates team requests it after their first review.1Robinhood. Losing a Loved One You do not need Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration to get started, though you should expect to be asked for them later, especially on larger accounts. Letters Testamentary are court-issued documents that prove an executor’s authority to act for the estate, and probate courts typically issue them shortly after appointing an executor.
Filling Out and Submitting the Form
The estates form sits outside the normal Robinhood login flow. You reach it through a direct link on Robinhood’s support page, and you do not need the deceased person’s login credentials to access it.1Robinhood. Losing a Loved One The form walks through each field on screen. There is no separate PDF to download.
Fill in the deceased’s identifying details first, then your own contact information and relationship. Upload the death certificate and your ID when prompted. Check that images are legible and not cropped. A blurry death certificate or a partially cut-off ID is the kind of thing that slows down review.
After you submit, a Robinhood estates representative contacts you to guide you through the next steps.1Robinhood. Losing a Loved One Keep your submission confirmation and any reference number you receive. You will need it if you have to follow up.
What Happens After You Submit
Robinhood does not publish a fixed timeline for estate processing. Once the initial form goes through, an estates representative reaches out and may request additional documentation depending on the situation. For accounts going through probate, that usually means court-issued Letters Testamentary if there is a will, or Letters of Administration if there is not. Smaller estates may qualify for a Small Estate Affidavit under state law, which simplifies the paperwork. The qualifying asset threshold varies by state but generally falls between $50,000 and $184,500.
Once Robinhood verifies your authority and the account’s status, you can generally either liquidate the holdings for cash or transfer securities in-kind to another brokerage through the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS). Robinhood charges a $100 fee for outgoing ACATS transfers, whether partial or full.2Robinhood. Transfer Your Assets Out Liquidating instead carries only the SEC Section 31 fee, which as of April 2026 runs $20.60 per million dollars in sales proceeds, essentially negligible on an individual account.3U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Section 31 Transaction Fee Rate Advisory for Fiscal Year 2026
After assets are moved or liquidated, Robinhood issues a final account statement showing the closing balance and transaction details. Hold onto it. Your tax preparer will need it.
When You Don’t Need the Estates Form
Not every Robinhood account goes through the estates process. If the deceased set up a Transfer on Death (TOD) beneficiary designation on their investing account, the named beneficiary can receive the holdings without probate.4Robinhood. Beneficiaries The beneficiary contacts Robinhood directly and can then hold the assets, transfer them into their own Robinhood account, move them to another brokerage through ACATS, or liquidate for cash.
Joint accounts with rights of survivorship (JTWROS) work similarly. When one holder dies, the surviving owner automatically gains full ownership and contacts Robinhood to begin the transfer.4Robinhood. Beneficiaries
A few limitations are worth knowing before you assume TOD covers the account:
- Louisiana residents cannot use TOD registration because of state law. If the account holder lived in Louisiana at the time of death, the TOD designation is void and the assets pass to the estate.5Robinhood. Transfer on Death Beneficiary Agreement
- Cryptocurrency held through Robinhood Crypto LLC is not eligible for TOD registration. Crypto in the account will not pass to the named beneficiary and may be subject to probate regardless of any TOD designation on the rest of the account.5Robinhood. Transfer on Death Beneficiary Agreement
- IRA accounts have their own beneficiary rules and do not use TOD registrations.4Robinhood. Beneficiaries
Without any beneficiary designation or joint account structure, the brokerage assets fall into the deceased’s estate and go through probate before reaching heirs. That is the scenario the estates form is built for.
What Comes After the Transfer
Once assets are in your hands or in the estate’s, a few tax items follow. Inherited securities in a standard brokerage account get a step-up in cost basis to the fair market value on the date of death, which can reduce or eliminate capital gains tax if you sell soon after inheriting.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 1014 – Basis of Property Acquired From a Decedent The step-up does not apply to traditional IRAs or other tax-deferred retirement accounts.
If the estate earns any income during settlement, including dividends, interest, or gains from selling securities, the executor needs an Employer Identification Number for the estate. You apply using IRS Form SS-4, available for free at irs.gov.7Internal Revenue Service. Information for Executors If the estate’s gross income exceeds $600 in a year, the executor must file Form 1041, the U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts. For calendar-year estates, the deadline is April 15 of the following year.8Internal Revenue Service. File an Estate Tax Income Tax Return Liquidating a brokerage account with even modest holdings can push the estate past that threshold.
If the account held cryptocurrency, the IRS treats it as property, not currency. Form 1041 includes a question about whether the estate received, sold, exchanged, or disposed of digital assets during the tax year, and the estate must answer regardless of whether the transactions produced a gain or loss.9Internal Revenue Service. Digital Assets Track the type of asset, transaction dates, number of units, and fair market value at each transaction so gains and losses can be calculated accurately.