Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated September 28, 2026. Quick answer: you open an account at the receiving firm and sign the transfer form there; the new firm pulls the account through ACATS. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors, LLC’s Form ADV Part 2A states “For Investment Management, On-Going financial planning and Investment Consulting, services will continue until either party terminates the Engagement Agreement on immediate written notice.” Signature Estate & Investment Advisors, LLC names two possible custodians in its brochure, with no single default: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., and Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC. If you are custodied at Schwab, budget $50.00 per account, per Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own current fee schedule. Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC’s own published fee schedule has no comparable line item for a full transfer-out, an honest gap rather than a confirmed $0.
The published numbers
From Signature Estate & Investment Advisors, LLC’s own Form ADV Part 2A (September 14, 2026), Item 5, Fees and Compensation, “Termination” (page 22): “For Investment Management, On-Going financial planning and Investment Consulting, services will continue until either party terminates the Engagement Agreement on immediate written notice. If termination occurs prior to the end of a calendar quarter, SEIA maintains the right to charge fees due on a pro-rata basis.” The same brochure names its custodians (Item 12, Brokerage Practices, “The custodians we use” (page 32)): “SEIA requires that our clients use Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Schwab), a registered broker-dealer, member SIPC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC (Fidelity), a registered broker-dealer, member SIPC, as the qualified custodian.” From Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors: “Full transfer (out) of assets: $50 per account.” Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC’s own Brokerage Commission and Fee Schedule contains no comparable line item for a full account transfer out; left as an honest gap rather than assumed to be $0.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Signature Estate & Investment Advisors’ own exit charge | $0.00 extra: pro-rated refund of any prepaid fee (Form ADV) |
| Full transfer-out at Schwab | $50.00 per account (Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors) |
| Full transfer-out at Fidelity | Honest gap: no comparable line item found |
| ACATS validation and completion window | 1 day to validate, 3 days to complete under FINRA Rule 11870 (measured in business days) |
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Source: WiserAdvisor’s service descriptionThe sequence
1. Pull a current statement for every account, showing the exact registration, account numbers and complete holdings list. 2. Check the holdings for anything that will not move. Ask the receiving firm directly: “Can you hold every position on this statement?” Anything they cannot hold has to be sold, and in a taxable account that is a realised gain in the year you switch: the categories that commonly do not transfer. 3. Open the receiving account and sign the transfer form there. Under FINRA Rule 11870 the delivering firm then has one business day to validate and three business days after validation to complete. 4. Send a dated termination letter for the record: the generator writes it, and confirm in writing that billing has stopped.
Two things to get right
Cost basis. Under IRC §6045A the delivering broker must furnish a transfer statement carrying basis for covered securities within 15 days of the transfer. Keep your final statements anyway, and check the first statement at the new firm for positions showing a missing or zero basis. Retirement accounts move as a direct transfer, trustee to trustee, not as a distribution to you. Why that distinction matters. Whether a transfer fee is worth paying at all is a question of what you are moving to: our benchmark of published adviser fee schedules puts the weighted median annual cost near $2,000 to $2,500 on $250,000: the benchmark. The general mechanics: switching financial advisors.
Want to know what Signature Estate & Investment Advisors charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Signature Estate & Investment Advisors’ own fee disclosure.
Sources
- Signature Estate & Investment Advisors, LLC (SEIA), “Form ADV Part 2A” (September 14, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1057762
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors, LLC firm summary (CRD 108163): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/108163
- Charles Schwab, “Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors” (July 2026): https://disclosures.schwab.com/SchwabDashboard/61256/REG23060SI.pdf
- Fidelity, “Brokerage Commission and Fee Schedule”: https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/Brokerage_Commissions_Fee_Schedule.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 28, 2026, drawing on Signature Estate & Investment Advisors’s own Form ADV/wrap-fee brochure/fee schedule plus each named custodian’s own published fee schedule, with sources linked inline; any figure we could not independently confirm this session on a firm-owned or custodian-owned document is named as an honest gap above rather than presented as verified. Nothing here is personalized financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. See our Editorial Policy, Corrections, Affiliate Disclosure, and Disclaimer.
Before you decide to leave Signature Estate & Investment Advisors, check whether it owes you a fiduciary duty in the first place.
What does it take to open an account? See Signature Estate & Investment Advisors’s minimum investment, straight from its own Form ADV Part 2A brochure.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.