Transfer on Death (TOD) beneficiaries receive your Robinhood investing account holdings if you were to pass away. If that happens, beneficiaries can receive your assets without going through a possibly lengthy probate court process. TOD beneficiaries aren't applicable for IRA accounts as they operate under different rules.

Designated TOD beneficiaries and IRA beneficiaries should contact us to begin the process to claim their assets. Our estates team will coordinate with your beneficiaries from there.

To receive your Robinhood assets, the beneficiaries will need to provide our estates team with the account owner’s death certificate, and may need to show their government-issued ID and other documentation. Any assets remaining will then be transferred to the beneficiaries.

Yes, you can change your beneficiaries at any time. In the app, go to Account → Menu (3 bars) or Settings → Beneficiaries, and then select Edit to add a new beneficiary, change their information, or delete an existing one.

No. Robinhood will never contact a beneficiary except in the event of a transfer on death. You should make sure your beneficiaries know that they’ve been named and that they may need to reach out to Robinhood if you were to pass away.

Also, if you live in a common-law state, your spouse is, by default, your beneficiary unless you get consent from them to register someone else.

Not yet. Your assets will be split evenly across your named beneficiaries to the extent possible. Robinhood will round to whole percentages if you’ve elected a number of beneficiaries that can’t be divided by 100% (e.g. 34%, 33%, and 33%).

Not at this time. We’re working to include crypto in the beneficiary process, but until then, any crypto assets will be distributed as a part of your estate.

TOD beneficiaries can generally receive all securities, cash, and options contracts currently in your account. They can transfer non-cash assets, like stocks, to their own Robinhood account. From their account, TOD beneficiaries can hold the assets, transfer them to another brokerage through ACATS, or liquidate them for cash.

IRA beneficiaries will need to open an Inherited IRA account with Robinhood to receive their assets, unless they're a spouse beneficiary and choose to receive them into their own IRA. The rules surrounding the distribution and tax treatment of Inherited IRA assets can be complex, and we recommend any IRA beneficiary consult with a tax professional for their unique situation.

If you’re married and live or have lived in a community property state (Alaska,* Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin), you have to get consent from your spouse or domestic partner before you can name another individual as your beneficiary.

You should consult with your own estate, tax, financial, and/or legal advisors when designating non-spousal beneficiaries to determine whether spousal consent is needed.

To be eligible as a TOD or IRA beneficiary, the individual must be a person who is at least 18 years old, a US Citizen, or otherwise be legally permitted to open a Robinhood account. For more information on eligibility, check out What you need to get started.

If you were to pass away without designating a beneficiary, TOD assets in your account would then be eligible for probate court or a probate alternative, depending on the account value. Probate will be subject to the applicable laws of your state of residence.

Your IRAs would be subject to the beneficiary default provisions, which are your surviving spouse (if any) or your estate if you have no surviving spouse.

Any active account owner not currently residing in the state of Louisiana. Transfer on Death (TOD) registrations aren't currently available for Robinhood customers in the state of Louisiana. If you no longer live in the state of Louisiana but are still unable to add a beneficiary, be sure to update your residential address before adding one.