Estate planning at Lightspeed
How to protect 11 Lightspeed accounts — manage beneficiaries by phone, fund a trust by mail, and file death claims
Lightspeed Service Desk / Relationship Management
Lightspeed Financial Services Group, 20 Headquarters Plaza, North Tower, 7th Floor, Morristown, NJ 07960
Lightspeed Service Desk / Relationship Management
Lightspeed Financial Services Group, 20 Headquarters Plaza, North Tower, 7th Floor, Morristown, NJ 07960
Service Desk (no dedicated estate unit; estate accounts handled by New Accounts)
Lightspeed Financial Services Group, Attn: Service Desk, 20 Headquarters Plaza, North Tower, 7th Floor, Morristown, NJ 07960
Lightspeed has 11 investment accounts, each with different rules for what happens when the account holder dies. Of those, 8 can name a trust as beneficiary or be retitled into a trust. The right combination of beneficiary designations and trust ownership can keep the entire portfolio out of probate.
Managing beneficiaries at Lightspeed is straightforward—changes can be made by mail and by phone, typically taking lightspeed does not publish a processing timeline; the service desk confirms receipt.. Trust funding is also available, allowing families to retitle brokerage accounts into a trust.
Lightspeed provides specific procedures for both proactive estate planning and filing claims after a death.
Preparing your estate
Beneficiaries and trust funding
How to update beneficiaries by phone, fund a trust by mail, and review 11 account types at Lightspeed.
View details →When someone dies
Death claim process
8-step process, 8 required documents, and contact information for survivors.
View details →Frequently asked questions
Wedbush Securities Inc., in most cases. Lightspeed is an introducing broker: per its FY2025 SEC filing it does business on a fully disclosed basis with two clearing brokers, Wedbush Securities Inc. and Interactive Brokers, and the clearing and custodial operations for customer accounts are performed by those clearing brokers. Wedbush Capital is also the majority owner of Lightspeed's parent, Lightspeed Holdings, LLC. Every estate-facing document reflects this: the TOD form is addressed to "Clearing Agent - Wedbush Securities Inc.", the account transfer form is a Wedbush form (clearing number 0103), and cash wires are payable to Wedbush Securities in Pasadena, California. Practically, an executor starts at the Lightspeed service desk (1-888-577-3123), but the documentation has to satisfy the clearing broker as well, so build in a second review cycle. One upside of the arrangement: Wedbush carries excess SIPC coverage of up to $25,500,000 per Lightspeed account, and that coverage follows the account through estate settlement.
Sources
Data sourced from Lightspeed primary sources (20 pages reviewed). How we research.
Lightspeed Service Desk / Relationship Management
Lightspeed Financial Services Group, 20 Headquarters Plaza, North Tower, 7th Floor, Morristown, NJ 07960
Lightspeed Service Desk / Relationship Management
Lightspeed Financial Services Group, 20 Headquarters Plaza, North Tower, 7th Floor, Morristown, NJ 07960
Service Desk (no dedicated estate unit; estate accounts handled by New Accounts)
Lightspeed Financial Services Group, Attn: Service Desk, 20 Headquarters Plaza, North Tower, 7th Floor, Morristown, NJ 07960
Estate planning articles
Learn how to protect your Lightspeed accounts and other assets with trusts, beneficiary designations, and estate planning documents.
