What to do when a Janney account holder dies

Janney pays that share to the estate. Its TOD Terms and Conditions say that if Janney cannot readily determine who the beneficiaries are, or if it does not receive instructions from a beneficiary within 180 days of the date its notice was mailed, that beneficiary's share goes to the account owner's estate and passes under the will or intestacy law. Janney also expressly disclaims any duty to identify, locate, or notify a beneficiary — the notice it may send is optional ("Janney may, but is not obligated to"). And if it receives claims conflicting with the beneficiary designation, including one from the estate's personal representative, it can withhold the transfer until the property rights are adjudicated. Keep beneficiary addresses current with the advisor.

Janney registers TOD accounts under Title 20, Chapter 64 of the Pennsylvania Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code, and the terms are governed by Pennsylvania law regardless of where the account owner lives. If the owner dies domiciled in a state (or country) that does not recognize TOD registration, Janney says it will still distribute the TOD-eligible assets per the beneficiary designation, under Pennsylvania law, and disclaims liability to the estate or the beneficiaries. Separately, for a Pennsylvania resident decedent, 20 Pa. C.S.A. Section 6411 requires Janney to notify the PA Secretary of Revenue within ten days of transferring the securities, on Form REV-516 — which is how the inheritance tax follows the account.

Only the account owner, signing in an individual capacity. Janney's TOD terms bar an attorney-in-fact, guardian, conservator, or other representative from creating or revoking a TOD account or changing its beneficiaries, unless the owner authorized the attorney-in-fact to do so in Section 3 of the TOD application itself. A TOD account may be owned only by individual natural persons — never by a trust, corporation, or partnership — and joint owners must hold with right of survivorship or as survivorship community property, not as tenants in common; on a joint account, every owner must consent in writing to a beneficiary change. A will cannot touch it: Janney states that modifications or revocations made through testamentary instruments are ineffective. Divorce does not revoke it either — the ex-spouse remains the beneficiary until a new TOD application or written cancellation reaches Janney. The registration itself is not effective until the Philadelphia main office accepts it, at which point it relates back to the date it was signed.