How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at Cetera
Covers 5 investment, and 6 retirement accounts — beneficiaries must be updated in-branch
Cetera
Subsidiary of Cetera Holdings (Aretec Group, Inc.); Genstar Capital closed an equity reinvestment in Cetera in December 2023
cetera.com→
Cetera Financial Group (account assistance by affiliated broker-dealer)
Cetera Financial Group, 655 W. Broadway, 11th Floor, San Diego, CA 92101
Cetera Trust Company, N.A.
Cetera Trust Company, N.A., 655 W. Broadway, 11th Floor, San Diego, CA 92101
No central estates or death-claims department. Notification runs through the deceased client's Cetera-affiliated financial professional or the broker-dealer named on the statement; the custodian holding the assets settles the account. Cetera Trust Company handles accounts where it is the named trustee.
Cetera Investment Services LLC, P.O. Box 283, St. Cloud, MN 56302-0283 (street: 400 First St. S., Suite 300, St. Cloud, MN 56301)
Estate planning for your Cetera investment accounts starts with understanding how each one transfers at death. Beneficiary designations and trust retitling both bypass probate, but the right approach depends on the account type, your tax situation, and how much control you want over distributions.
Cetera has 11 product types, and the estate transfer rules differ across them. Some support Transfer on Death (TOD) designations, some can be retitled into a trust, and others will require probate if nothing is set up. Each is covered below.
- Full legal name, date of birth, and SSN for each beneficiary
- Relationship and allocation percentage
- IRAs use the custodian's IRA beneficiary form, not the TOD form used for taxable accounts
Required Documents
- Trust name, date established, and tax ID (EIN or SSN)
Special Requirements
- Advisor-mediated: Cetera provides no consumer-facing online beneficiary update and no beneficiary form of its own
- The operative form belongs to the custodian, and Cetera advisory accounts sit at four different ones (Pershing, National Financial Services, Cetera Investment Services, Charles Schwab)
- Every account change routes through your affiliated financial professional
- A named beneficiary controls the account at death and overrides your will
- A 529 account uses a successor owner designation rather than a TOD beneficiary
Sources
- cetera.com
- ceteratrust.com
- ceterainvestorcenter.com
- adviserinfo.sec.gov
- brokercheck.finra.org
- reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov
Data sourced from Cetera primary sources (18 pages reviewed). How we research.
Download these Cetera instructions
Download instructions for the whole estateA printable PDF with the steps, required documents, and contact details — verified against Cetera primary sources. Bring it to the branch or keep it beside the phone.
Cetera
Subsidiary of Cetera Holdings (Aretec Group, Inc.); Genstar Capital closed an equity reinvestment in Cetera in December 2023
cetera.com→Cetera Financial Group (account assistance by affiliated broker-dealer)
Cetera Financial Group, 655 W. Broadway, 11th Floor, San Diego, CA 92101
Cetera Trust Company, N.A.
Cetera Trust Company, N.A., 655 W. Broadway, 11th Floor, San Diego, CA 92101
No central estates or death-claims department. Notification runs through the deceased client's Cetera-affiliated financial professional or the broker-dealer named on the statement; the custodian holding the assets settles the account. Cetera Trust Company handles accounts where it is the named trustee.
Cetera Investment Services LLC, P.O. Box 283, St. Cloud, MN 56302-0283 (street: 400 First St. S., Suite 300, St. Cloud, MN 56301)
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