How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at UBS
Covers 6 investment, 5 retirement, and 3 deposit accounts — beneficiaries must be updated in-branch
UBS Financial Services Inc., Client Relations, PO Box 766, Union City, NJ 07087
UBS Financial Services Inc., Client Relations, PO Box 766, Union City, NJ 07087
No dedicated death-claims department. Start with the deceased's UBS Financial Advisor; UBS Client Relations is the fallback. UBS publishes no claims email and instructs clients not to send confidential or account information by email.
UBS Financial Services Inc., Client Relations, PO Box 766, Union City, NJ 07087
Preparing your UBS investment accounts for estate transfer involves two primary strategies: designating beneficiaries on individual accounts and, where supported, retitling accounts into a revocable living trust. Both approaches bypass probate, but they work differently depending on the account type.
Across 14 product types, UBS investment accounts vary in how they transfer at death. The sections below walk through Transfer on Death (TOD) designations, trust funding options, and which products support each method.
- Schedule a meeting with your UBS Financial Advisor at your local branch
- Bring government-issued photo ID
- Advisor provides the appropriate Beneficiary Designation Form (for IRAs) or TOD Agreement (for brokerage accounts)
- Complete the form with each beneficiary's full legal name, relationship, date of birth, SSN, and address
- Designate primary and contingent beneficiaries with percentage allocations totaling 100%
- For trusts as beneficiaries: provide trust name, trust date, trustee name, and trust EIN
- Sign and date the completed form in front of your advisor
- Advisor submits the form internally for processing
Required Documents
- Trust name, date established, and tax ID (EIN or SSN)
Special Requirements
- Brokerage TOD registration is arranged through your Financial Advisor — UBS publishes no self-service TOD form and no online beneficiary screen
- IRA spousal consent: if you are married, live in a community or marital property state (AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI), and your spouse is not the primary beneficiary of at least 50% of the IRA, your spouse must sign the designation before a notary public
- Employer qualified plan (#481 form): the married default is a Qualified Pre-Retirement Survivor Annuity to the spouse; a non-spouse primary beneficiary requires a waiver plus witnessed spousal consent, and the spouse must consent again to any later beneficiary change
- IRA default beneficiary: anything not effectively disposed of by the designation passes to the surviving spouse, and if none, to the estate (probate)
- On the IRA form, contingent beneficiaries are named under each primary, and each primary requires an election for how that primary's share is redirected if they predecease you
- Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts override will provisions
Sources
Data sourced from UBS primary sources (14 pages reviewed). How we research.
Download these UBS instructions
Download instructions for the whole estateA printable PDF with the steps, required documents, and contact details — verified against UBS primary sources. Bring it to the branch or keep it beside the phone.
UBS Financial Services Inc., Client Relations, PO Box 766, Union City, NJ 07087
UBS Financial Services Inc., Client Relations, PO Box 766, Union City, NJ 07087
No dedicated death-claims department. Start with the deceased's UBS Financial Advisor; UBS Client Relations is the fallback. UBS publishes no claims email and instructs clients not to send confidential or account information by email.
UBS Financial Services Inc., Client Relations, PO Box 766, Union City, NJ 07087
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