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. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors, LLC’s Form ADV Part 2A states the agreement “will continue in effect until terminated by either party,” with HH refunding “the pro-rated portion of the advanced advisory fee.” HH’s own brochure names its two primary custodians directly: “National Financial Services, LLC (NFS), a Fidelity Investments company, and/or Charles Schwab & Co. Inc.” If you are custodied at Schwab, budget $50.00 per account for a full outgoing transfer, per Schwab’s own July 2026 pricing guide. NFS is an honest gap: it is a multi-tenant clearing entity whose fees are set per introducing-firm contract, not published as one universal schedule. A smaller, separate “Digital Program” clears through Apex Clearing Corporation, whose own published schedule (via the Zoe Financial platform HH uses for that program) lists $75.00 for an outgoing ACATS transfer, but that applies only to Digital Program accounts, not HH’s primary business.
The published numbers
From Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors, LLC’s own Form ADV Part 2A (March 27, 2026), Item 5: “The Agreement between HH and the client will continue in effect until terminated by either party by written notice… HH shall refund the pro-rated portion of the advanced advisory fee paid.” The same brochure names its primary custodians (Item 12): “the Firm shall generally recommend that National Financial Services, LLC, (“NFS”) a Fidelity Investments company, and/or Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. (“Schwab”) serve as the broker-dealer/custodian.” From the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors (July 2026): “Full transfer (out) of assets: $50 per account.” NFS does not publish one universal client-facing fee schedule; left as an honest gap. For HH’s separate Digital Program (Item 4), which “utilizes a digital platform provided by Zoe Financial, Inc.… powered by… Apex Clearing Corporation,” Zoe’s own published Apex fee page lists: “ACATS Outgoing Non Retirement $75.00.”
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Halbert Hargrove’s own exit charge | $0.00: pro-rated refund of any advance-paid fee (Form ADV) |
| Full transfer-out at Schwab | $50.00 per account (Schwab’s own July 2026 pricing guide) |
| National Financial Services (NFS) | Honest gap: no universal published fee schedule, terms set per introducing-firm contract |
| Digital Program only, Apex Clearing (via Zoe Financial) | $75.00 outgoing ACATS transfer (Zoe Financial’s own published Apex fee page); does not apply to HH’s primary NFS/Schwab business |
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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 Halbert Hargrove charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Halbert Hargrove’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors, LLC, “Form ADV Part 2A” (March 27, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1030014
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors, LLC firm summary (CRD 105515): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/105515
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors, LLC Form CRS: https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_105515.pdf
- Charles Schwab, “Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors” (July 2026): https://disclosures.schwab.com/SchwabDashboard/61256/REG23060SI.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 28, 2026, drawing on Halbert Hargrove’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.
Weighing whether to move ahead? Read the full Halbert Hargrove review.
Before you decide to leave Halbert Hargrove, check whether it owes you a fiduciary duty in the first place.
What does it take to open an account? See Halbert Hargrove’s minimum investment, straight from its own Form ADV Part 2A brochure.
What does leaving cost elsewhere? Compare the published exit fee at 115 advisory firms and brokerages, each taken from that firm’s own schedule or its custodian’s.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.