Fidelity TOD Account

What Is a Fidelity TOD Account?

A Fidelity TOD account is a brokerage account with a transfer on death registration. The letters TOD appear after your name and before the name of a beneficiary. Florida law also allows the words "pay on death" or the abbreviation "POD" in the same position.

The registration has no effect on ownership until your death. While you are alive, the account belongs to you. You can buy and sell securities in it or withdraw the money. The beneficiaries have no present interest in the account and cannot touch it.

At your death, ownership passes to the beneficiaries who survive you. Florida law says, "On proof of death of all owners and compliance with any applicable requirements of the registering entity, a security registered in beneficiary form may be reregistered in the name of the beneficiary or beneficiaries who survived the death of all owners." The beneficiaries do not need a court order to claim the account. No probate is required.

The term "Individual TOD" on a Fidelity statement means the account is held by one owner, and that owner has named one or more beneficiaries to receive it at death. A joint account with a TOD registration works differently. The TOD beneficiaries take only after the last surviving owner dies.

Florida law treats the transfer as a contract between you and the brokerage. The statute says the transfer is "effective by reason of the contract regarding the registration between the owner and the registering entity" and "is not testamentary." A TOD designation does not go through your will and cannot be changed by your will.

If no beneficiary survives you, the account goes to your estate. Probate is then required.

Who Can Have a TOD Registration?

Florida law limits who can register a security in TOD form. You must own the account alone or hold it jointly with right of survivorship. Tenants in common cannot use a TOD registration.

The statute says, "Only individuals whose registration of a security shows sole ownership by one individual or multiple ownership by two or more with right of survivorship, rather than as tenants in common, may obtain registration in beneficiary form." Fidelity's form covers three arrangements. An account held individually qualifies. So does an account held by joint tenants with right of survivorship or by tenants by the entirety.

Married couples in Florida may hold brokerage accounts as tenants by the entirety. The TOD beneficiaries take only after the surviving spouse dies.

The same rule applies to joint tenants with right of survivorship. The TOD designation takes effect only after the last surviving owner dies.

Florida law says, "Multiple owners of a security registered in beneficiary form hold as joint tenants with right of survivorship, as tenants by the entireties, or as owners of community property held in survivorship form, and not as tenants in common." If you and another person hold an account as tenants in common, you cannot add a TOD registration to it.

How Does Per Stirpes Work at Fidelity?

Fidelity's TOD form has a per stirpes checkbox next to each beneficiary line. The form says, "If you outlive a beneficiary and you want that beneficiary's share to go to his or her descendants, check 'Per stirpes.'"

Per stirpes means the share of a beneficiary who dies before you passes down to that beneficiary's own descendants. If you name your three children as equal primary beneficiaries and check per stirpes for each, the rule applies whenever a child dies before you do.

Suppose you have three children and each is a one-third primary beneficiary with per stirpes checked. One child dies before you, leaving two grandchildren. At your death, your two surviving children each receive one third. The deceased child's one-third share passes to the two grandchildren, split equally between them. Each grandchild receives one sixth of the account.

The division continues at each generation. If a grandchild had also died before you with living great-grandchildren, that grandchild's portion would pass to the great-grandchildren.

Florida law uses a related abbreviation. The statute says a registering entity may allow "the letters 'LDPS,' standing for 'lineal descendants per stirpes.'" The LDPS designation "substitutes a deceased beneficiary's descendants who survive the owner for a beneficiary who fails to so survive," and the descendants share "in accordance with the law of the beneficiary's domicile at the owner's death governing inheritance by descendants of an intestate."

If per stirpes is not checked and a beneficiary dies before you, that beneficiary's share does not pass to the beneficiary's children. The share goes instead to the surviving primary beneficiaries, then to the contingent beneficiaries, and then to your estate.

What Happens If a Beneficiary Dies Before You?

A TOD designation names the people you want to receive the account. The question is what happens when one of those people dies before you do, and the answer depends on whether you checked the per stirpes box.

Suppose you name three children as primary beneficiaries in equal shares, and one child dies before you. Without per stirpes, that child's share does not go to the child's own children. The share goes instead to the surviving primary beneficiaries in proportion to their original shares. In this example the two surviving children would each receive half, not the one-third they were originally named for. The deceased child's family receives nothing from the account.

If no primary beneficiary survives you, the account goes to any contingent beneficiaries you named. Fidelity's form states that "Contingent beneficiaries receive assets only if no primary beneficiary survives you." A contingent beneficiary does not share with a surviving primary. The contingent takes only when every primary has died.

If no beneficiary of any kind survives, Florida law sends the account to your estate. The statute says, "If no beneficiary survives the death of all owners, the security belongs to the estate of the deceased sole owner or the estate of the last to die of all multiple owners." An account that falls into the estate goes through probate, which is what the TOD registration was meant to avoid.

The per stirpes checkbox is the way to direct a deceased beneficiary's share to that beneficiary's descendants. Checking it for each child means the account follows the family line even if a child dies before you. Without the checkbox, the account follows only the named people who are still living at your death.

Only Named Beneficiaries Share

A Fidelity TOD account passes only to the beneficiaries you have named on the designation form. Other members of the same family who are not named, including other children or grandchildren, take nothing from the account. The form's promise runs to the people listed, and nobody else.

Fidelity's designation form provides four lines for primary beneficiaries and four lines for contingent beneficiaries. If you have more beneficiaries than that, the form's instructions say to copy the page and attach the additional names.

The practical point is that the designation form is the only document that controls who receives the account. A will that says "my brokerage account to my children equally" does not change the designation. A trust that was created after the designation was signed does not override it. The named beneficiaries receive the account, and anyone not named receives nothing.

When every named beneficiary has died before the account holder, the account has no one to pass to under the TOD. Florida law sends the account to the account holder's estate. The estate is then distributed through probate.

Reviewing the designation form after a birth, a death, a marriage or a divorce is the way to keep the account on course. The four to eight lines on the form are a complete list of who will receive the account.

Can You Name a Minor or a Trust?

A minor can be named as a TOD beneficiary, and Fidelity has discretion over how to pay. The form says Fidelity may, in its absolute discretion, pay to a parent, to a guardian or conservator, or to an existing custodial account under a Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. The discretion belongs to Fidelity, and the form does not promise any particular outcome.

A trust gives you more control over how a minor receives the money. The trust names a trustee you choose and sets the ages at which distributions are made. The trust document governs the timing, and the details depend on how you want the trust to work. The free consultation covers what fits your plan.

Fidelity's form allows you to name a trust as a primary or contingent beneficiary. The form asks for the trust's taxpayer identification number and the trust's date. The form does not ask for the trustee's name. The trustee is determined by the trust document.

A revocable trust used this way remains reachable by the account holder's creditors while the account holder is alive. Florida law provides that "The property of a revocable trust is subject to the claims of the settlor's creditors during the settlor's lifetime to the extent the property would not otherwise be exempt by law if owned directly by the settlor." While you are alive, the account stays your own property, whether the TOD names a trust or not.

Does Divorce Remove an Ex-Spouse From a Fidelity TOD Account?

Fidelity's own form says that marriage, divorce, remarriage or adoption do not automatically add or revoke beneficiaries. A former spouse named before the divorce remains a beneficiary until you file a new designation. The form does not treat a divorce as a reason to remove anyone.

Florida law takes a different approach for death designations, including TOD accounts. The statute says, "A designation made by or on behalf of the decedent providing for the payment or transfer at death of an interest in an asset to or for the benefit of the decedent's former spouse is void as of the time the decedent's marriage was judicially dissolved ... if the designation was made prior to the dissolution ...." The law treats the former spouse as if that person had died before you, and the account passes to whoever would take next under the designation.

The statute lists TOD accounts as one of the covered assets. An exception applies, however. Florida's automatic revocation does not apply when "the governing instrument is governed by the laws of a state" other than Florida. Fidelity's TOD agreement is governed by Massachusetts law.

Because of that choice-of-law clause, Florida's automatic revocation may not reach a Fidelity TOD account. The safe course after a divorce is to file a new beneficiary designation that names whoever you want, without relying on any state's automatic rule.

Florida law also protects Fidelity from liability for paying a former spouse. The statute says the payor "is not liable for making any payment on account of, or transferring any interest in, the asset to any beneficiary."

The free consultation is a good time to check your beneficiary designations after a divorce.

Should the TOD Beneficiaries Match Your Will or Trust?

A TOD account passes by contract. Florida law says "A transfer on death resulting from a registration in beneficiary form is effective by reason of the contract regarding the registration between the owner and the registering entity and ... is not testamentary." The beneficiary designation on file at Fidelity controls, and a will cannot change it.

If your will says everything goes to your three children equally, and your TOD account names only one of them, that one child receives the entire account. The other two have no claim to it under the will. The account never becomes part of the estate that the will distributes.

The same is true if you have a trust. The trust controls only what is in the trust. A TOD account passes directly to its named beneficiaries and bypasses the trust unless you name the trust as the beneficiary.

When you sign a new estate plan, checking each account's beneficiaries is part of the work. A Complete Trust Plan (flat fee from $3,200, or $4,500 for a couple) includes beneficiary designations coordinated with the trust, retirement accounts where naming a trust is often the wrong answer, and funding instructions and help retitling accounts.

The free consultation is a good time to ask whether your TOD beneficiaries still match what your will or trust says.

How Do You Change Fidelity TOD Beneficiaries, Step by Step?

You can update your beneficiaries three ways. The form itself says "You can change beneficiaries any time at Fidelity.com/beneficiary." You can also upload a completed form through your account or send it by mail.

No permission is needed from the people you are adding or removing. Florida law says "A registration of a security in beneficiary form may be canceled or changed at any time by the sole owner or all then-surviving owners without the consent of the beneficiary." The designation has no effect on ownership until your death.

When you fill out the form, review each line. For each primary and each contingent beneficiary, decide whether to check the per stirpes box. If a beneficiary dies before you and per stirpes is checked, that beneficiary's share goes to that person's descendants. If per stirpes is not checked, the share goes to the surviving primaries or contingents instead.

The form has four primary and four contingent lines. If you need more, copy the page and attach it.

After you submit a new designation, keep a copy with your estate planning documents. The designation on file at Fidelity controls, and a copy helps your family know whom to contact.

If your account is jointly owned with right of survivorship or as tenants by the entirety, all surviving owners must sign to change the beneficiaries. The TOD takes effect only after the last owner dies.

Related Guides

• What is a TOD account, and how other firms’ rules differ
• TOD beneficiary rules at 38 brokerages
• How to name a trust on each institution’s form
• Florida beneficiary designations

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Situations

A father named his three adult children as equal TOD beneficiaries on a Fidelity account, one third each. His middle child died in a car accident two years before the father died. The father had not checked the per stirpes box. The middle child had two children of her own, ages 12 and 15. At the father's death, the account was worth about $240,000. The two surviving children each received half. The deceased child's own children received nothing from the account because they were not named and per stirpes was not selected. A single checkbox would have sent one third to the grandchildren.

A woman divorced and remarried. Her Fidelity TOD account still named her first husband as the sole beneficiary. She assumed Florida's divorce revocation law removed him automatically. After she died, her family discovered that Fidelity's agreement is governed by Massachusetts law. Florida's automatic revocation may not have applied. The family and the first husband disputed who was entitled to the account. A new designation filed after the divorce would have avoided the dispute, which took several months and legal fees to resolve.

What I See When a Fidelity TOD Form Meets a Florida Estate

In reading Fidelity’s own transfer on death paperwork line by line, I have a few take-home points.

The first is the per stirpes checkbox. Every beneficiary line has one. Left unchecked, a beneficiary who dies before the account owner drops out, and the share goes to the surviving primary beneficiaries, then to the contingent beneficiaries, then to the owner’s estate. Checked, the share passes to that beneficiary’s own children instead. The box matters, and most people filling out the form do not know what it does. The second is that the form and the will or trust must agree. A TOD account skips probate and skips the trust, so the protection the trust would have given a 16-year-old beneficiary, or one on needs-based benefits, or one in the middle of a divorce, never applies. A young beneficiary or a vulnerable one takes the account outright on the day of death. The third is the honest limit. Fidelity’s own reregistration rules, not the statute, decide how fast the heirs get paid. The owner’s family will deal with Fidelity’s paperwork, not with Florida’s.

Practice pointer. The failure is a form filled out at account opening fifteen years ago that names a person the owner no longer intends, or names a minor, outright. Read every beneficiary form against the will or trust once a year and after every death, divorce or birth in the family.

Sources of Law

• Fidelity, Beneficiaries, Nonretirement Transfer on Death form and Designated Beneficiary Agreement, form 1.925788.107, revised April 2025, pp. 1, 4, 5, and section H (governing law) (fidelity.com), read September 24, 2026 and September 28, 2026. Every quote is also in our TOD rules dataset.
• Fla. Stat. §711.506 (no effect on ownership until death; change without consent); §711.507 (surviving beneficiaries take; estate if none survives); §732.703(3)(e) and (4)(g) (divorce revocation of a transfer-on-death designation; not applicable where the governing instrument is governed by another state’s law).
• Fla. Stat. §711.506 (a transfer-on-death registration has no effect on ownership until death and may be changed without the beneficiary’s consent) and §711.507 (ownership passes to the beneficiaries who survive all owners; reregistration on proof of death and compliance with the registering entity’s requirements). (retrieved 2026-10-31)

Updated on October 31, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. StepUpLaw is not affiliated with Fidelity Investments. General information about Florida law, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Firms change their forms; confirm the current version with Fidelity. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.