Yes. The owner of EE and I Bonds can transfer them to another person with a TreasuryDirect account; however, you must wait five business days from the purchase date to do so.
A savings bond can be transferred to another TreasuryDirect account in whole or in part. See What is the procedure for transferring savings bonds from one TreasuryDirect account to another?
What happens if I transfer savings bonds to another TreasuryDirect customer? Will the recipient’s purchasing limit be affected?
When you transfer savings bonds to another customer, the value of the transfer is deducted from the yearly purchase limit for each savings bond type for the year in which the transfer happens.
Is it possible to move marketable securities from one TreasuryDirect account to another or to a broker/dealer account?
Yes. Marketable Securities can be transferred in $100 increments. You can send a portion or the entire value of a single investment or a group of securities to a single recipient or financial institution. See What is the procedure for transferring marketable securities from my TreasuryDirect account?
No, you must transfer marketable securities from your TreasuryDirect account to a broker/dealer account in order to sell them.
The securities can be sold by the broker/dealer on your behalf.
Is it possible to transfer marketable securities from a non-TreasuryDirect account to my TreasuryDirect account?
Yes. You can contact your broker to have marketable securities from another account transferred as an Incoming External Transfer to your TreasuryDirect account. Customer Service will handle your request and add issued securities to your Current Holdings. For maturity and interest payments, incoming transfers are issued with your primary bank information as the payment destination (if applicable). For specific instructions, see Learn More About Transfers.
Is it possible to transfer marketable securities from my old TreasuryDirect account to my new TreasuryDirect account?
Yes. Complete a Security Move Request, FS Form 5179, to transfer assets from Legacy Treasury Direct to your TreasuryDirect account. Incoming transfers are deposited into your TreasuryDirect account’s Current Holdings.
What happens if I transfer a marketable security that was initially slated for deposit in my C of I before it matures?
Any purchases you have scheduled utilizing Zero-Percent C of I as the source of funds may be impacted if you elect to transfer a marketable security prior to maturity. If funds are inadequate to cover the purchase request, the purchases may be canceled.
What if the form of registration for transferring marketable securities from an outside broker to my TreasuryDirect account is invalid?
We shall refuse any inbound security transfer request that has an invalid form of registration.
What if the marketable security I want to move in from another outside account is registered with the words “OR,” “AND,” or “With Right of Survivorship”?
Regardless of the method of registration prior to the transfer, a security transferred from an outside account into a TreasuryDirect account will be transferred in the name of the individual account owner in single owner form. The registration can be changed to any allowable registration after the transfer is accomplished.
How can you transfer a savings bond’s ownership?
The name of a single owner or two co-owners will be printed on a US savings bond. The savings bond can only be cashed by a listed owner. To change the owner of a savings bond, a reissue request must be made to the US Treasury together with the bond.
How do I give EE bonds to someone else?
You can have the US Department of the Treasury reprint your series EE bonds in the name of your beneficiary if you want to offer them as a gift. You can start the procedure by filling out a form that is available online or by mail from the agency. Find out everything you can about the consequences of shifting your savings bonds. You can speak with a bank representative, write a letter to the Treasury, or seek legal advice.
Is it possible to retitle US savings bonds?
Consult your tax advisor or these Internal Revenue Service (IRS)publications to learn about the tax implications of various situations involving the death of a savings bond owner:
- A savings bond that has reached or is about to reach its final maturity date may not be reissued. It’s possible to cash it.
- Series EE and Series I bonds have a 30-year maturity period.
- The Series HH bonds have a 20-year maturity period.
What is the procedure for transferring US savings bonds after death?
A certified copy of the death certificate, the bond, and Form 4000, Request to Reissue United States Savings Bonds, must be sent to a Treasury Department retail securities site; they are listed on the website.
What is the procedure for cashing a US Savings Bond that is not in my name?
If you are not identified as the owner or co-owner on the bond, you must produce legal evidence or other documentation to establish you are entitled to cash the bond, regardless of where you cash it. (Legal evidence is not returned.)
It is important to note that savings bonds cannot be transferred. You can’t cash a bond that belongs to someone else or that you bought on an internet auction site. (See Death of a Savings Bond Owner if you inherit a bond through the death of the bond owner.)
Is it possible to reissue lost savings bonds?
You can obtain a replacement electronic savings bond if your paper bond is lost, stolen, destroyed, disfigured, or you never received it. Individual savings bonds are not splittable and must be reissued in their entirety. You can request that your bond be redeemed instead of replacing it electronically.
Is it possible to cash in my parents’ savings bonds?
If you are now the owner of the savings bonds or if your parent listed you as the survivor beneficiary on the bonds, take them to a bank or other financial institution. In the presence of a bank official, fill out the redemption form on the back of the bonds and sign it. A driver’s license or other form of identification is required. You must also provide proof of death if you are mentioned as a survivor. This is usually done by a verified copy of the death certificate. The bank will redeem the bonds and pay you the proceeds.
If your name has changed, can you cash a savings bond?
In many circumstances, reissuing your bonds will result in tax liabilities. The good news is that you don’t need to republish for these usual scenarios:
Not in the least. When you’re ready to cash your bond, just take it to the bank in its original form. You’ll sign with both your old and new names, as specified on the bond. As an example:
No, once again. When you’re ready to cash your bond, simply bring it to the bank in its original condition and sign it with your right name.
No, bond addresses were just used for mailing purposes and had no bearing on ownership.
Surprisingly, the answer is no. The bond does not need to be reissued. It’s a good idea to let us know if it’s incorrect, though. We’ll mark that in your file and have the exact number if we ever need to look for your bond. See
“Correcting a Bond’s Social Security Number.”
Do US savings bonds have to go through probate?
According to statistics, many savings bonds are lost because their owners do not maintain track of them or notify their heirs. According to Treasury Direct, a service of the US Department of the Treasury, over $9 billion in savings bonds have stopped generating interest but have not been cashed. It is difficult to identify unclaimed bonds with their legal owners or heirs. Treasury Hunt, a government database, has a small record, although it only covers Series E bonds that have reached final maturity since 1974.
Non-probate assets include savings bonds. As a result, unlike retirement funds and life insurance, they are not usually passed down through the generations according to the stipulations of a will. Instead, they are “payable on death” to the person or entity (such as a trust) specified as co-owner or beneficiary, and can be given as soon as someone passes away.
If no survivor is specified, or if that individual has died, the bond becomes an asset of the estate, which complicates things and makes distribution more time consuming. Federal regulations require that bonds and other Treasury assets with a total value of more than $100,000 be handled through a court. When smaller quantities are involved, Form 5336 leads you through a separate procedure that can only be used when, regardless of the bonds, no court will be involved under state law.
Because savings bonds aren’t considered “sexy” investments, you might be tempted to cash them in right away, but that could be a mistake. Inheritors of bonds that have not yet matured have the option of redeeming the bonds or having them reissued in their own name. You can keep earning whatever interest the bond pays until it matures by reissuing the bonds.
You can use Treasury Direct’s savings bond calculator to figure out how much the bond is worth. When you enter the type of bond (the “series”), denomination, serial number, and issuance date, the calculator will calculate how much interest has already accrued at the current interest rate, as well as when the bond will maturity.
Bonds that have matured and stopped producing interest will be dumped by heirs (find a list here). However, if the bonds are still earning interest, a decision must be made. The interest rate on bonds may be significantly greater than other low-risk investments, such as Treasury bills, certificates of deposit, and money market funds, depending on the type of bond and when it was issued. In that situation, the inheritors may chose to keep them.
When someone dies, what happens to their bonds?
They can, however, stay in the monthly Premium Bonds draws for up to a year after the client has passed away.
After the 12-month term has passed, the face value of the Premium Bonds, as well as any prizes won during that time, will be reimbursed to the dead customer’s estate.
To retain the Bonds in the draw, the person in charge of the deceased customer’s money should indicate this on the death claims form.
Any Premium Bonds awards won will be paid via prize cheque to the person entitled to the money – the estate’s executor – after the prize draw.
Any unclaimed awards will be held until the death claim is processed, after which they will be distributed.
Following the completion of the death claim, we will send any future prizes earned by check to the individual who is entitled to the money.
We are unable to award these prizes online or to consolidate and pay them at the end of the year.