Schwab Introduces Digital Inheritance Center

New online experience provides increased ease, efficiency, and transparency for those navigating the inheritance process

WESTLAKE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of its ongoing focus on innovating to make the investing experience easier and more accessible, Charles Schwab has introduced a digital Inheritance Center. The Inheritance Center is an online hub that provides a simple way to manage inheritance tasks, such as opening accounts, submitting forms, and receiving status updates. The hub is now available to current Schwab clients as well as new-to-firm clients who receive an inheritance.

The Inheritance Center offers a seamless, intuitive, self-service experience that reduces time-consuming phone calls and in-person branch visits as well as the need to fax or mail forms and documents.

“Adding a digital pathway to the inheritance process is our way of acknowledging that different people handle life events in different ways,” says Kathie Chao, Managing Director, Retail Digital Experience. “We are offering inheritors a dedicated specialist, along with an online hub, to allow them to get through the process on their own time. Our goal is to let people work through the process in the way that is best for them, whether that’s mostly on their own or with more support.”

Clients who process an inheritance through the online hub will have the option to work with a dedicated estate professional for guidance.

Key features of the Inheritance Center include:

• Personalized to-do list – A dynamic, digital list that is tailored to each inheritor’s specific situation. Inheritors must complete all of the to-do items, which include opening accounts or uploading forms/documents, to receive their inheritance.
• Real-time status updates – Email communications and online notifications that set inheritors’ expectations and provide the status of forms, transfers, etc.
• Digital document upload – The ability to quickly upload inheritance forms and documents online instead of sending them by mail or fax. Inheritors can upload forms and documents from their desktop or by taking a photo from their phone or tablet.
• Helpful resources – Contextual FAQs, financial inventory checklists, and information about distribution options to help inheritors with common questions.

“By combining the best of technology with people, our aim is to make the inheritance process as seamless as possible,” says Chao. “We hope that our Inheritance Center and the continued digital evolution of the estate process will help our clients get through difficult times in their lives a little bit more easily.”

The Inheritance Center is currently available to almost half of the total inheritor population, which includes individual inheritors who are opening Individual Retirement Accounts and brokerage accounts to receive their assets. The online hub will eventually be available to all inheritors.

About Charles Schwab

At Charles Schwab we believe in the power of investing to help individuals create a better tomorrow. We have a history of challenging the status quo in our industry, innovating in ways that benefit investors and the advisors and employers who serve them, and championing our clients’ goals with passion and integrity.

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