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. SouthState Private Capital Management LLC’s Form ADV Part 2A states “A client Agreement may be terminated at any time, by either party, for any reason in accordance with the terms of the governing contract.” SouthState Private Capital Management LLC names four possible custodians in its brochure, with no single default: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Fidelity, Equity Trust, and SouthState Bank, N.A. (affiliated, certain clients only). If you are custodied at Schwab, budget $50.00 per account, per Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own current fee schedule. If you are custodied at Equity Trust, budget $250.00 per account, per Equity Trust Company’s own current fee schedule. Fidelity’s own published fee schedule has no comparable line item for a full transfer-out, an honest gap rather than a confirmed $0. No primary-source public fee schedule was located for SouthState Bank, N.A., an honest gap rather than a confirmed figure.
The published numbers
From SouthState Private Capital Management LLC’s own Form ADV Part 2A: Firm Brochure (July 1, 2026), Item 4, Advisory Business, “Termination” subsection (page 12): “A client Agreement may be terminated at any time, by either party, for any reason in accordance with the terms of the governing contract. Upon termination of any contract, any prepaid, unearned fees will be promptly refunded to the client based upon pro-rata adjustment as of the account’s termination date, and any earned, unpaid fees will be due and payable.” The same brochure names its custodians (Item 12, Brokerage Practices, “Broker Selection/Recommendation” (page 24)): “SSPCM clients generally use Charles Schwab & Co. (“Schwab”), Fidelity, or Equity Trust to serve as custodian based upon the quality of their services, the types of services these firms offer, their overall capabilities, execution quality, competitiveness of transaction costs, the investment research they make available to SSPCM and SSPCM’s clients, and the Firms’ reputation and financial stability, among other things.” From Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors: “Full transfer (out) of assets: $50 per account.” From Equity Trust Company’s own Retail Fee Schedule: “Full Termination Fee $250” Fidelity’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. No primary-source public fee schedule was located for SouthState Bank, N.A.; left as an honest gap rather than assumed to be $0.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| SouthState Private Capital Management’s 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 Equity Trust | $250.00 (“Full Termination Fee”) (Equity Trust Company’s own Retail Fee Schedule) |
| Full transfer-out at Fidelity | Honest gap: no comparable line item found |
| Full transfer-out at SouthState Bank | 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 SouthState Private Capital Management charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from SouthState Private Capital Management’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- SouthState Private Capital Management LLC, “Form ADV Part 2A: Firm Brochure” (July 1, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1050438
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, SouthState Private Capital Management LLC firm summary (CRD 165306): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/165306
- Charles Schwab, “Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors” (July 2026): https://disclosures.schwab.com/SchwabDashboard/61256/REG23060SI.pdf
- Equity Trust Company, “Retail Fee Schedule”: https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/forms.equitytrustcompany.info/Retail-Fee-Schedule.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 SouthState Private Capital Management’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 SouthState Private Capital Management, check whether it owes you a fiduciary duty in the first place.
What does it take to open an account? See SouthState Private Capital Management’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.