Wife has stocks in her name

I'd ask a CELA.

All of dad's investments (SEP IRA) remained in his name until the end. As POA mom traded some to fund MC. After he died, she inherited them as his beneficiary.

HB

ETA: As POA mom had a fiduciary duty to look after his finances, so we did realign the portfolio. In the middle stages, dad had made some very questionable investment moves which were costing him dearly.

If they're held in an account, you would take a copy of the POA to their office. They'll likely make a copy to send to their legal department for vetting. If the POA includes this kind of activity and they accept the document (and they don't always— especially downloadable boilerplate versions) you would hear back in 2-3 weeks and could act on her behalf.

HB

Charley- I would still talk to a CELA. There could be issues for Medicaid look back and capital gains. Best to get advice first.

Please let our mistake help you!!! And great that you are thinking of this now, and not during probate.

Computershare is a company that manages many stocks. It's run through a group of call centers and websites. We spent HOURS trying to get a few things done before my mother passed away. We needed to get my deceased father's name off the stock certificates and we needed to add my name and my brothers as Transfer on Death. We had to download certain forms, fill them out, get them notarized (not just a regular notarization, but a special kind), and send them back to Computershare, then follow up. We messed it up several times but finally got the important stocks taken care of. It took months.

Two or three days before she passed away, we discovered another. It was managed by Computershare, had no named beneficiary or TOD. It was The Only Thing between us and a clear sail through Probate after her death. We spent over $800 for an attorney to do the stuff that we could have done ourselves if we had started a few weeks sooner.

So, at the very least, figure out how to get your name added to the securities as Transfer on Death. You may be able to do this online. You may or may not have trouble if you are using a Power of Attorney to make yourself the one that the stocks are transferred to. This is where your lawyer comes in. I am absolutely not an expert on these things, so find the ones who are! Your investment person, if you have one, may have an expedited way to add the TOD. And if not, the lawyer who set up your POA can probably advise.

Charley also be aware that not all financial institutions will accept a generic DPOA. My partner had investments with Schwab and we had to sign their own proprietary forms, that's not uncommon.

If they are her separate property- from before marriage or inherited then using the DPOA to make them your property isn't the right thing to do without a lawyer looking it over— esp if she has a will that doesn't leave them to you or medicaid is involved. If you're looking to avoid a probate mess, again, having things cleared up now is better than later .