What to do when a Mariner account holder dies

Mariner does not hold client assets: the accounts sit with qualified custodians, Charles Schwab, Fidelity (National Financial Services LLC) and Pershing. The death claim is the custodian's process, on its forms; the advisor identifies the accounts, produces date-of-death values and walks the claim packet through.^{1, 2, 3}

On a taxable account with a TOD registration, the custodian re-registers the account to the TOD beneficiary, outside probate.⁴

The custodian re-registers a joint account with survivorship to the survivor, outside probate.⁴

An individually owned account with no TOD registration and no trust is a probate asset, released on Letters. It waits on the probate court to issue Letters.⁴

The beneficiary named on the custodian's form takes the IRA, through an inherited IRA opened at that custodian.⁴

A trust-titled account, or an account where Mariner Trust Company serves as trustee or co-trustee, is administered by Mariner Trust Company under the trust's terms. No probate court is involved and no court appointment is needed before anyone has authority to act.⁴

A policy placed through Mariner Insurance Resources is claimed from the issuing carrier, not from Mariner, on the carrier's claim form.⁴

An annuity placed through Mariner Insurance Resources is claimed from the issuing carrier, not from Mariner, on the carrier's claim form.⁴

Mariner's brochure notes that an annuity contract's cash value and its net death benefit are different figures.²

Custody of Mariner client accounts held there; the claim is filed on its forms^{1, 2, 3}

Custody of Mariner client accounts held there; the claim is filed on its forms^{1, 2, 3}

Custody of Mariner client accounts held there; the claim is filed on its forms^{2, 3}

Accounts where it serves as trustee or co-trustee, administered under the trust⁴

The advisor supplies the custodian's date-of-death valuation of the accounts.⁴

Mariner may instruct a custodian to send a check to the client's name and address of record, but "all third-party distributions from your custodial account(s) must be signed by you." It has no authority to direct a distribution to a third party, so it cannot move the money to a beneficiary or an estate account.²

The advisory Agreement does not end at death: it runs until either party terminates it, and Mariner's fee is prorated through the termination date. Clients on the current standard fee schedule are generally subject to a non-refundable minimum quarterly fee of $1,875, which an idle estate account continues to incur.⁴

Mariner has grown by acquiring advisory firms, so a decedent's statements may still carry an acquired firm's name. It is the same firm, and 800-384-1756 reaches it.³