How to Transfer Stock Certificates to Another Person

To transfer stock certificates to another person, you complete a stock power form authorizing the transfer, get your signature verified with a Medallion Signature Guarantee at a bank or broker where you have an account, and mail the signed paperwork along with the original certificate to the company’s transfer agent. The mechanics are simple, but transfer agents reject packages for small mismatches all the time, so the details below matter more than the sequence.

Confirm How Your Shares Are Held

Start by identifying what you actually have. A physical stock certificate is a paper document issued in the shareholder’s name; you need to locate it and keep it secure until the transfer completes. If you can’t find it, you’ll need to go through a replacement process before anything else can happen.

If your shares are held through the Direct Registration System, they’re recorded electronically in your name on the company’s books and you’ll have periodic account statements from the transfer agent instead of a paper certificate.¹ A recent statement works as proof of ownership. The third arrangement is “street name,” where your brokerage holds the shares for you. If that’s your situation, work through your broker rather than going directly to a transfer agent.

Fill Out the Stock Power

The stock power is the document that legally authorizes the transfer. It works as a limited power of attorney for the specific shares being moved. Physical certificates usually have a stock power printed on the back, but a standalone form (available from any brokerage or the transfer agent) is safer because it avoids writing directly on the certificate itself. Any correction on the certificate creates problems.

Fill in these fields:

Corporation name: the full legal name of the company whose stock you’re transferring.
Class of stock: usually “common,” though some companies also issue preferred shares.
Number of shares: the exact count being transferred. A mismatch with the certificate or account records is an automatic rejection.
Recipient information: the transferee’s full legal name and current residential address, matching exactly what will appear on the new registration.
Taxpayer Identification Number: the recipient’s Social Security number or TIN, which the transfer agent needs for cost-basis tracking and federal tax reporting.²

Do not sign or date the form yet. You’ll sign it in front of the officer who provides the Medallion Signature Guarantee. Signing early is one of the most common reasons packages come back.

Get a Medallion Signature Guarantee

A Medallion Signature Guarantee is a specialized stamp from a financial institution that verifies your identity and your signature. Transfer agents require it because the guarantee carries an indemnification pledge: if the signature turns out to be forged, the guaranteeing institution absorbs the loss. It’s the main safeguard in the whole system against unauthorized transfers.

Under SEC rules, eligible guarantor institutions include banks, broker-dealers, credit unions, national securities exchanges, and savings associations.³ Most participate in one of the recognized medallion programs, and transfer agents are entitled to reject a guarantee from a non-participating institution.

Here’s the practical catch: you almost always need an existing account at the institution that provides the guarantee. Banks will typically turn away a walk-in with no relationship, because they run an internal risk review of your account history before applying the stamp. If you don’t have an account with any participating institution, contact the transfer agent directly and ask about alternatives.³

Bring the completed but unsigned stock power, the physical certificate if you have one, and government-issued photo ID. The officer will verify who you are, watch you sign, and apply the stamp.

Send the Package to the Transfer Agent

Every publicly traded company uses a transfer agent to maintain shareholder records, issue new certificates, and process ownership changes. Transfer agents must be registered with the SEC.⁴ You’ll find the agent’s name and address on the company’s investor relations page or printed on the back of the certificate.

Send the following:

The signed, medallion-stamped stock power (or the endorsed certificate if you used the form on the back).
The original stock certificate, if physical shares are involved.
A letter of instruction stating what you want done: transfer to a named individual, re-registration, or conversion to book-entry form.

Use registered mail or a private courier with tracking. Endorsed certificates are negotiable instruments, so a lost package can mean lost shares. Add insurance if the value is meaningful.

How Long It Takes

Federal regulations require transfer agents to process at least 90 percent of routine transfer requests within three business days of receipt.⁵ Realistically, the full cycle runs one to two weeks once the agent has your package, especially if a new physical certificate needs to be printed and mailed.

Why Packages Get Rejected

The name on the stock power has to match the registered shareholder’s name exactly. A certificate registered to “Robert J. Smith” signed as “Bob Smith” will come back. Other frequent problems: an expired or missing medallion guarantee, a stock power signed before the guaranteeing officer witnessed it, share counts that don’t line up, and incomplete recipient information. Read every field twice before mailing.

What It Costs

Budget for a few layers of fees:

Transfer agent issuance fee: typically $50 to $150 to cancel an old certificate and issue a new one or to update the digital records.
Medallion Signature Guarantee: $10 to $50 at some institutions, though many waive it for established customers.
Shipping and insurance: registered mail or overnight courier with tracking runs $20 to $100 depending on speed and coverage.

For a straightforward transfer of a certificate you already have in hand, total costs usually land between $75 and $250. Book-entry shares held through direct registration skip the shipping and insurance entirely, which makes the process both cheaper and simpler.

If the Certificate Is Lost or Stolen

A missing certificate doesn’t mean the shares are gone, but replacing it adds time and cost. Contact the transfer agent to report the loss and request a replacement. The agent typically requires three things: a written affidavit describing the circumstances, a formal request for a new certificate, and an indemnity bond.⁶

The bond protects the company and transfer agent if the original certificate later surfaces in someone else’s hands. The premium generally runs two to three percent of the current market value of the missing shares.⁶ On a $50,000 certificate that’s $1,000 to $1,500 just for the bond, and the number rises if your credit is weak. If you suspect theft, file a police report along with notifying the transfer agent.

If the Shares Are Restricted

Stock acquired through employee plans, private placements, or other non-public transactions often carries a restrictive legend printed on the certificate. That legend blocks free trading or transfer until certain conditions are met, typically a holding period under SEC Rule 144.

Only the transfer agent can remove the legend, and the agent won’t act without the issuing company’s consent, which usually comes as an opinion letter from the company’s legal counsel confirming the conditions for unrestricted sale have been satisfied.⁷ Contact the transfer agent or the company’s investor relations department to find out what they need, and build extra time into your timeline for the legend to come off before you send in the transfer paperwork.

If the Owner Has Died

Shares don’t automatically transfer to heirs. The estate’s legal representative works with the transfer agent to move the stock into the right hands, and the paperwork is heavier than a routine transfer.

Transfer agents generally want:

A certified death certificate with the registrar’s seal. Photocopies are almost always rejected.
Letters testamentary or letters of administration from the probate court, proving the executor’s or administrator’s authority. Many transfer agents require these to be recent, often issued within the last 60 days.
An affidavit of domicile, a notarized statement from the executor identifying the deceased’s state of residence at death. The transfer agent uses it to determine which state’s laws apply and confirm no competing state tax claim.
A letter of instruction from the executor specifying how the shares should be re-registered, whether to individual beneficiaries, a trust, or the estate’s brokerage account.

Inherited stock also carries an important tax feature. The beneficiary’s cost basis is stepped up to the fair market value on the date of death rather than the original purchase price.⁸ Stock bought at $10 and worth $100 at death has a $100 basis in the beneficiary’s hands, which can eliminate decades of embedded capital gains.

If the Recipient Is a Minor

You can’t register stock directly in a child’s name, because minors lack the legal capacity to own securities outright. The shares go into a custodial account under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) or the older Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA), depending on your state.

Setting up the account requires naming an adult custodian, who manages the investment as a fiduciary for the child. The account title follows a standard format, typically “Jane Doe, custodian for John Doe under [State] UTMA.” You’ll need the minor’s Social Security number. Once the custodial account exists, you transfer the shares into it using the same stock power and medallion process described above.

Two things to know: the custodian’s role ends when the child reaches the age of majority (18 or 21, depending on the state), and the transfer is irrevocable. Once the stock is in, you can’t take it back.

Tax Consequences to Understand Before You Transfer

Gifting stock and inheriting stock are taxed very differently, and knowing the difference before you move anything can save the recipient real money.

Gifts While You’re Alive

When you give stock during your lifetime, the recipient inherits your original cost basis. If you paid $5,000, their basis is $5,000, regardless of what the stock is worth on the gift date.⁹ When the recipient sells, they owe capital gains tax on the difference between your original cost and the sale price. One exception: if the fair market value at the time of the gift is lower than your basis, the recipient uses the lower value when calculating a loss.

For 2026, you can give up to $19,000 per recipient per year with no gift tax reporting.¹⁰ A married couple can each give $19,000 to the same person, doubling the exclusion to $38,000. Above that, you file IRS Form 709 by April 15 of the following year.¹¹ Filing doesn’t necessarily mean you owe tax; the excess counts against your lifetime exemption, which for 2026 is $15,000,000.

The value of the gift for tax purposes is the fair market value on the transfer date, not your original cost. Transferring $50,000 worth of stock to your adult child in 2026 uses $31,000 of your lifetime exemption after the $19,000 annual exclusion.

Inherited Stock

The picture flips at death. Instead of carrying over your basis, the beneficiary gets a stepped-up basis equal to fair market value on the date of death.⁸ Decades of unrealized gains can effectively disappear. For older shareholders sitting on heavily appreciated stock, holding until death rather than gifting during life is often the more tax-efficient choice.

Keep Your Own Cost Basis Records

Brokers are required to pass cost basis and acquisition dates along to a receiving broker for covered securities.² In practice, that information gets lost regularly with old paper certificates and shares that have been through splits and mergers. Keep your own records of the original purchase price, acquisition date, and any adjustments, and pass them to the recipient. They’ll need them when they eventually sell.

1
FINRA. Know the Facts About Direct Registered Shares
2
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-B
3
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Medallion Signature Guarantees: Preventing the Unauthorized Transfer of Securities
4
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Transfer Agents
5
eCFR. 17 CFR 240.17Ad-2 – Turnaround, Processing, and Forwarding of Items
6
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Lost or Stolen Stock Certificates
7
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Restricted Securities: Removing the Restrictive Legend
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 1014 – Basis of Property Acquired from a Decedent
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 1015 – Basis of Property Acquired by Gifts and Transfers in Trust
10
Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax
11
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 709