What to do when a M1 account holder dies

M1 states that an outstanding margin loan must be repaid as soon as it receives the death certificate. Margin balances cannot be transferred to a beneficiary or to the estate, so M1 automatically sells the most overweight Slices in the deceased's Pie to cover the balance. Beneficiaries and executors inherit whatever remains after that liquidation, which means a margin-financed M1 portfolio can be partly sold at whatever the market is doing that week, with the resulting gains or losses landing in the estate. If preserving specific positions matters, the margin balance is the thing to resolve during the account holder's lifetime.

Three do: Crypto accounts (offered by Bakkt, with the assets in a Bakkt-powered custodial wallet — M1 discloses that neither M1 Finance LLC nor M1 Digital LLC is involved in the execution or custody of crypto), Trust accounts, and Custodial (UTMA) accounts. Crypto assets therefore pass through the deceased owner's estate and are released only to a representative holding Letters Testamentary, Letters of Administration, or a Court Letter of Appointment; they are not FDIC or SIPC insured. A Trust account is governed by the trust agreement, not by any M1 designation. UTMA assets already belong irrevocably to the minor, so a custodian's death calls for a successor custodian under that state's UTMA statute rather than an estate claim. Louisiana residents have no TOD or POD option on any M1 account, which leaves the trust or the succession as the planning route there.