Stock Power & Affidavit of Domicile: Transferring Securities After Death

When a shareholder dies, their stocks and fund shares do not move automatically. Someone — an executor, trustee, or surviving joint owner — has to instruct the transfer agent (the recordkeeper that maintains share ownership) to re-register the shares or liquidate them. That paperwork almost always includes a notarized Affidavit of Domicile and a Stock Power form.

This guide covers what those documents do, which pieces need a notary versus a Medallion Signature Guarantee, and how to get the notarized parts handled online.

The distinction that saves you a wasted appointment

Before anything else, understand this: an Affidavit of Domicile and a Medallion Signature Guarantee (MSG) are two different stamps, issued by two different kinds of professionals, and they are not interchangeable.

• Affidavit of Domicile — a sworn statement identifying the decedent's state of legal residence on the date of death. It is notarized. A commissioned notary (including a RON notary online) can complete it.
• Medallion Signature Guarantee — a specialized signature guarantee issued by a participating bank, credit union, or broker-dealer that is a member of the STAMP, SEMP, or MSP medallion programs. It confirms the signer's identity, the authenticity of the signature, and the legal capacity to transfer securities. A notary cannot issue one. Period.

Transfer agent packets frequently require both stamps on different pages — a notarized Affidavit of Domicile, and an MSG on the Stock Power itself. Plan to handle them separately: the notarization online, the MSG at a bank where the estate or beneficiary already has a relationship.

What the transfer agent actually asks for

Every transfer agent — Computershare, EQ Shareowner Services, Equiniti, Broadridge, AST (American Stock Transfer), and the in-house agents at mutual fund complexes — publishes a "decedent transfer" or "estate transfer" packet. The contents vary, but the core list is remarkably consistent:

• Certified copy of the death certificate — raised seal, issued by the state or county vital records office. Photocopies are typically rejected.
• Stock Power (also called a Stock/Bond Power or Assignment Separate from Certificate) — the instrument that endorses the shares over to the new owner.
• Affidavit of Domicile — notarized, identifying the decedent's legal state of residence.
• Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration — court-issued documents naming the personal representative, usually dated within 60 days.
• W-9 for the receiving party — the estate's EIN or the beneficiary's SSN for 1099 reporting.
• Inheritance or estate tax waiver — required in a shrinking list of states (check the transfer agent's instructions for the decedent's state).
• Medallion Signature Guarantee on the Stock Power — where required by the agent's dollar threshold or security type.

Small-estate affidavits for securities

If the decedent's total probate estate falls under the state's small-estate statutory threshold, many states allow a small-estate affidavit (also called an affidavit of heirship or collection affidavit) to stand in for Letters Testamentary. Thresholds vary dramatically by state, and the waiting periods and procedural rules differ — do not assume your state's numbers; confirm them against the current state probate code or with an estate attorney.

When a small-estate affidavit is used, it is typically notarized, and transfer agents will accept it in lieu of court letters so long as the form matches the state's statutory template.

What goes on the Affidavit of Domicile

The affidavit is short — usually one page — but every field matters:

• Decedent's full legal name as it appears on the stock registration.
• Date of death matching the death certificate exactly.
• State and county of legal residence on the date of death (domicile, not necessarily where the person died).
• Affiant's name and relationship — executor, administrator, trustee, or surviving joint tenant.
• Statement that the affidavit is sworn under penalty of perjury.
• Signature of the affiant, witnessed by the notary.
• Notary acknowledgment or jurat block with seal, commission number, and expiration.

If the decedent's name on the stock certificate differs from the death certificate (middle initial dropped, maiden name, Jr./Sr. suffix), add a short explanatory line identifying both spellings as the same person. Transfer agents will otherwise bounce the packet.

What goes on the Stock Power

The Stock Power endorses the shares from the decedent (or the estate) to the new owner. Fill it out like a check — every blank matters:

• Exact registration name as it appears on the certificate or book-entry statement.
• Number of shares being transferred. For full-position transfers, write "all."
• CUSIP or security description (company name and class of stock).
• New owner's name and address — beneficiary, heir, or the estate account itself for an interim retitling.
• Signature of the transferor — the executor, administrator, or trustee, signed exactly as on the Letters.
• Medallion Signature Guarantee stamp adjacent to the signature, where required.

A notary can witness the Stock Power signature for completeness, but most transfer agents will still require the MSG on top of — not instead of — any notarization.

Step-by-step: getting this notarized online

1. Download the transfer agent's estate packet

Go directly to the transfer agent's site (Computershare, EQ, Equiniti, AST, or your mutual fund's agent) and download the current decedent transfer packet. Do not use a generic template from a search result — agents update their forms, and outdated versions are rejected.

2. Assemble the documents the notary will witness

For the online session, have ready:

• The Affidavit of Domicile, filled in but unsigned.
• Any small-estate affidavit, if applicable and if the state form requires notarization.
• Any trustee certification or executor affidavit requested by the agent.
• A valid, unexpired government-issued photo ID for the signer.

The Stock Power itself can wait — it will most likely need an MSG at a bank, not a notary, so there is no reason to pre-sign it.

3. Book the RON session

Schedule when the signer — executor, administrator, trustee, or surviving joint tenant — can appear on camera. The signer is the person named in the Letters or listed on the account, not an attorney or heir who is "helping." If multiple executors must sign, all of them appear on the session (sequentially or together, depending on the RON platform).

4. Complete the session

During the call, the notary will:

• Verify the signer's identity with credential analysis and KBA.
• Confirm the signer is acting willingly and understands the affidavit's contents.
• Witness the signature applied to the PDF.
• Affix the electronic seal and journal the act.

5. Assemble and submit the full packet

Combine the sealed notarized PDFs with the certified death certificate, Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, the W-9, the MSG-stamped Stock Power, and any state tax waiver. Ship by the method the transfer agent specifies — many now accept encrypted upload, but some still require paper originals for the certified death certificate and medallion-stamped Stock Power.

Do not print and rescan the notarized PDF. Doing so strips the cryptographic seal that the agent's compliance team uses to validate the RON notarization.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Asking the notary for a Medallion Guarantee. They cannot issue one. Plan your bank visit for the MSG separately.
• Using an expired death certificate copy. Some agents require the certified copy to be issued within the last 12 months. If the death was years ago, order a fresh one from vital records.
• Name mismatches. Registration "John Q. Public" vs. death certificate "John Quincy Public" vs. Letters "John Public Jr." — add a single-sentence identity-equivalence line to the affidavit, or expect a bounce.
• Wrong date of domicile. Domicile is the state of legal residence on the date of death, not the state where the person happened to be when they died or where they owned a vacation home.
• Skipping the state tax waiver. A handful of states still require an inheritance tax waiver before the agent will release shares. Check the agent's instructions for the decedent's state specifically — do not assume.
• Pre-signing the affidavit. The notary must witness the signature live. A pre-signed document cannot be notarized after the fact.

Bottom line

Transferring a decedent's shares is less mysterious than it looks once you separate the three signature worlds: the notary handles the Affidavit of Domicile and any small-estate affidavit; the bank handles the Medallion Signature Guarantee on the Stock Power; and the court issues the Letters that prove who you are. Get the notarized pieces done online in 15 minutes, take the Stock Power to the bank for the medallion, and ship the complete packet to the transfer agent. U.S. Online Notaries handles the Affidavit of Domicile and estate-administration affidavits every day — book a session when your packet is ready and we will have the sealed PDF in your inbox the same session.