What Is a TOD Account?

What a TOD Account Is

A TOD account is a brokerage, mutual fund or other investment account registered to transfer on death. The registration names the people who will own the account when you die. Until then nothing changes. You own the account, you trade in it, you withdraw from it, and you can change the beneficiaries whenever you like.

Florida adopted the uniform law that makes this work. A TOD registration has no effect on ownership until the owner’s death, and the owner can cancel or change it at any time without the beneficiary’s consent. At death the account passes to the beneficiaries who survive the owner, by contract with the brokerage rather than through a will, so no probate is needed. The same statute keeps your creditors’ rights intact against the account.

A TOD account is only available on individual accounts and on joint accounts with a right of survivorship. An account held as tenants in common cannot be registered in TOD form. The bank version of the same idea is a payable-on-death account.

Many TOD Forms Refuse Per Stirpes

Per stirpes means that if a beneficiary dies before you, that person’s share goes to their children. It is the default most families assume. Of the 20 brokerage TOD documents we read that address it, 6 refuse it.

“MLPF&S will not honor any attempt to alter or amend this Agreement to provide for contingent or successor Beneficiaries, including any designation of "lineal descendants per stirpes."”

Merrill Transfer on Death Agreement, p. 3

“We will not honor "per stirpes" or any similar designation where we would have to determine the identities of heirs of a deceased beneficiary.”

Wells Fargo Advisors TOD agreement, p. 3

“Vanguard doesn't accept designations that name a group of individuals, such as "my descendants" or "children, per stirpes," on a Transfer on Death Plan because of the difficulty in identifying the members of the ...”

Vanguard Transfer on Death Plan, p. 4

Robinhood, Franklin Templeton (for its Putnam accounts) and the Baird Funds TOD registration rules refuse it too. Robinhood’s agreement puts it plainly, “Only Beneficiaries identified by name will share in the Account Assets. Per stirpes distributions are not permitted.”

The consequence is concrete. Name your three children on a Vanguard TOD account, and if one dies before you, the account goes to the other two. The grandchildren from the child who died receive nothing from it. Several of these firms accept per stirpes on their IRA forms, so the same person can have two accounts at one firm that follow opposite rules.

A Former Spouse Usually Stays on the Account

Of the 13 brokerage TOD agreements that address divorce, 11 keep a former spouse as beneficiary until you file a new form. Schwab’s agreement is typical.

“subsequent marriage, dissolution of marriage, remarriage, or adoption, will ... not automatically add or revoke designations of beneficiaries ... the former spouse will remain a beneficiary after the ...”

Charles Schwab account agreement, p. 13

Edward Jones and Stifel are the exceptions, and Edward Jones says “A dissolution of marriage automatically revokes a designation of ... a former spouse of the Account Owner as a Beneficiary of the ...”

Florida has a statute that voids a designation of a former spouse made before the divorce, and it expressly covers a security or account registered in transfer-on-death form for a Florida resident. The statute does not apply, though, if the governing instrument is governed by the laws of another state. Many brokerage agreements choose another state’s law. Fidelity’s TOD agreement chooses Massachusetts, Schwab’s California and Pershing’s New York, according to the documents we read. When the agreement points elsewhere, Florida’s fix may not reach the account.

The only reliable fix is a new beneficiary form signed after the divorce. Even where the statute applies, the brokerage is protected when it pays the named beneficiary, which leaves your family to recover the money from your former spouse after your death.

Naming a Trust as TOD Beneficiary

Of the brokerage TOD documents that address it, 26 allow a trust as the primary beneficiary and 3 do not. Naming your revocable living trust keeps the account out of probate and hands it to your successor trustee, who follows your instructions. That solves the per stirpes problem, because the trust can say exactly what happens to a share when a child dies first, and it lets you hold a young beneficiary’s money until an age you choose.

Each firm wants the trust named its own way, with the trust’s name, date, trustee or tax number. Our comparison of how to name a trust on each institution’s form quotes them side by side.

If No Beneficiary Survives

Florida law sends a TOD account to the owner’s estate when no beneficiary survives, and 28 of the TOD documents we read that address it say the same. An estate means probate, which is what the TOD registration was supposed to avoid. Naming contingent beneficiaries, or naming your trust, closes that gap.

TOD Account or Living Trust?

A TOD registration costs nothing and takes one form. It has two limits. It does nothing while you are alive, so if you become unable to manage the account, your beneficiaries have no authority and your agent under a power of attorney may be the only one who can act. And it pays each beneficiary outright at your death, whatever their age or circumstances.

A revocable living trust covers both. Your successor trustee can manage the account if you become incapacitated, and the trust can hold a beneficiary’s share until a set age. Many families use both, naming the trust as the TOD beneficiary.

Related Guides

• TOD beneficiary rules at 38 brokerages, firm by firm
• Fidelity TOD account rules
• Payable on death and TOD accounts in Florida
• Florida beneficiary designations
• Transfer on death deeds in Florida

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Situations

The grandchildren left out. A widow names her three children on a TOD account at a firm that refuses per stirpes. Her son dies two years before she does. At her death the account goes to her two daughters, and her son’s children receive nothing from it. Naming her trust as beneficiary, with a per stirpes rule inside the trust, would have kept his share for them.

The divorce that did not update the account. A man divorces and never changes the TOD beneficiary on an account whose agreement keeps a former spouse. If the agreement is governed by another state’s law, Florida’s revocation statute may not apply, and the brokerage can pay his former wife without liability.

Sources of Law

• Fla. Stat. §711.505 (registration in beneficiary form, “transfer on death” or “TOD”); §711.506 (no effect on ownership until the owner’s death; change without the beneficiary’s consent); §711.507 (ownership passes to surviving beneficiaries; if none survives, the security is part of the owner’s estate); §711.509(1)-(2) (transfer effective by contract and not testamentary; creditors’ rights preserved); §711.502 (sole owners or multiple owners with right of survivorship only).
• Fla. Stat. §732.703(2) (designation of a former spouse void as of the dissolution), (3)(e) (applies to a security or other account registered in transfer-on-death form of a Florida resident), (4)(g) (does not apply if the governing instrument is governed by the laws of another state), (6) (payor not liable for payment to any beneficiary).
• Brokerage TOD documents: 38 listings in our beneficiary designation rules dataset (read September 24 to 27, 2026), each quoted with its source, page and form number there. Quoted here: Merrill Transfer on Death Agreement; Wells Fargo Advisors TOD agreement; Vanguard Transfer on Death Plan; Robinhood Transfer on Death Beneficiary Agreement; Charles Schwab account agreement; Edward Jones Transfer on Death Agreement. Baird’s refusal is in the Rules Governing TOD Registration on the Baird Funds beneficiary designation form.

Updated on September 28, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. Attorney Kevin Klagge represents families, businesses, and international clients in estate and tax planning, business structuring, and international law, with a focus on Florida legal tools. He litigates estate and business issues in court. StepUpLaw is not affiliated with any firm named here. General information about Florida law, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Firms change their agreements; confirm the current version with the firm. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.