How to Add a Power of Attorney (POA) on a New Pershing Account
When establishing a new Pershing account with a POA, the following information and paperwork is needed in addition to the standard new account paperwork requirements for the specific registration being established: * Please note, trust registrations will have additional requirements.
- You must submit a copy of the power of attorney document.
Important: If the POA document is over 3 years old, you must also include the Power of Attorney Affidavit and Indemnification form CA 473. This form must be wet signed by the POA and notarized.
- The POA’s information must be included in the following Co-Owner sections of the Account Information Form CA 32:
- Account Information (located on page 1)
- Identification Information (located on page 2)
- Employment Information (located on page 2)
The new account paperwork must include ALL applicable signatures in the Client Signature section of the forms. Please refer to the section regarding signature requirements below.
How to Add a POA on an Existing Pershing Account
When adding a power of attorney to an existing Pershing account the following paperwork is required: * Please note, trust registrations will have additional requirements.
- You must submit a copy of the power of attorney document.
Important: If the POA document is over 3 years old, you must also include the Power of Attorney Affidavit and Indemnification form CA 473. This form must be wet signed by the POA and notarized.
To submit this request via AdviceWorks, please follow these steps:
- Access the contact record on AdviceWorks and click the account maintenance box.
- Select the applicable account from the dropdown menu.
- Select power of attorney for transaction type, then click next.
- Enter the information for the power of attorney, then click complete.
- Attach a copy of the official POA document to the documents page for processing.
- Important: If the POA document is over 3 years old, you must also include the Power of Attorney affidavit and Indemnification form CA 473. The form must be wet signed by the POA and notarized.
Adding a POA to a Pershing Trust account
New Trust Account: To open a new trust account with a power of attorney for an acting trustee, you will need the below paperwork and/or information in addition to the standard new account paperwork requirements for a trust registration:
- You must submit a copy of the power of attorney document. Important: If the POA document is over 3 years old, you must also include the Power of Attorney Affidavit and Indemnification form CA 473. This form must be wet signed by the POA and notarized.
- The POA’s information must be included in the following Co-Owner sections of the Account Information Form:
- Account Information (located on page 1)
- Identification Information (located on page 2)
- Employment Information (located on page 2)
- The Trustee Certification form must indicate that the trustee is authorized to “delegate trustee powers to agents, under a POA” (see item #8 in the powers of the trustee(s) section of the form). *Please note, if the POA document specifically indicates that the POA may not act as fiduciary, Cetera will NIGO the request.
The new account paperwork must include ALL applicable signatures in the Client Signature section of the forms. Please refer to the section on signature requirements below.
Existing Trust Account: To update an existing trust account by adding a power of attorney for an acting trustee the below paperwork/information is required:
- You must submit a copy of the power of attorney document. Important: If the POA document is over 3 years old, you must also include the Power of Attorney Affidavit and Indemnification form CA 473. This form must be wet signed by the POA and notarized.
- A new/updated Trustee Certification form
- The form must indicate that the trustee is authorized to “delegate trustee powers to agents, under a POA” (see item #8 in the powers of the trustee(s) section of the form). *Please note, if the POA document specifically indicates that the POA may not act as fiduciary, Cetera will NIGO the request.
- A Letter of Instruction stating what is being changed/updated and signed by the POA is also required.
The paperwork must include ALL applicable signatures in the Client Signature section of the forms. Please refer to the section on signature requirements below.
How should the required new account/update request forms be signed?
POA eSignatures are not currently supported in AdviceWorks, so the paperwork must be wet signed. New accounts with a POA must be submitted outside of AdviceWorks account opening. Requests to update an existing trust account with a POA must also be submitted outside of AdviceWorks accounts maintenance requests.
The paperwork must include ALL applicable client signatures in the Client Signature section of the forms. Note: The information indicated below provides instructions based on an account with only one Pershing account owner and with one POA acting on their behalf:
The most common scenario is when the client is NOT signing and only the POA is signing the forms (on behalf of the client). In this situation the POA must sign as follows:
- On the Signature page of the form(s), please have the POA print the client’s name in the Printed Name of Owner line and then have the POA sign “their own name - POA” on the Signature of Owner line. e.g., of signature: John Doe - POA.
- In this scenario, the POA does not need to print, sign and date on the Co-Owner signature line. This line can be left blank if there are no additional co-owner/authorized persons on the account.
While not typical, both the client and the POA can sign the forms but must complete the Signatures sections as follows:
- In the Printed Name, Signature and Date of Owner section of the form(s), have the client print, sign & date their own name.
- In the Printed Name, Signature and Date of Co-Owner section of the form(s), have the POA print, sign & date their own name. The POA must specify they are the POA e.g., John Doe - POA
Power of Attorney Affidavit and Indemnification form CA 473
Important information about this form:
- When the official POA document is over three years old, the POA Affidavit form is also required. Without the POA affidavit form, an agent cannot act for the client’s Pershing account.
- The POA Affidavit is not eSignature eligible. Instead, it must be wet signed by the POA and notarized.
- The POA Affidavit form extends, but does not replace, a POA document.
Please contact the Prosperity Network Compliance Team with any questions. compliance@prosperityadvisors.com or 913-529-5500 Option 2.
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