Don't want to deal with the details yourself?
Let us do the work.
Every bank, brokerage, insurer, and lender has its own estate department, its own forms, and its own weeks of hold music. We make the calls, prepare exactly the paperwork each one requires, and follow up until every account is where it belongs — with the estate, the surviving owner, the named beneficiary, or the trust. You sign. We do the rest.
Let us waste the time on hold.
The average estate is thirty to sixty hours of phone trees, callbacks, resent packets, and letters that say "we need one more thing." That time is the product. You keep yours.
- No aggravationEvery call logged, every answer written down, nothing explained twice.
- No waiting endlessly on holdWe sit in the queue and call back until someone competent answers.
- No runaroundsWe already know what each institution requires, so the packet is right the first time.
- No stressOne named person, one status page, one business day to any answer.
A trusted financial advisor — not a call center.
Four Lines Fiduciary is a service of Four Lines Capital Management, LLC, a California company that uses technology to make financial flows easier — the force behind Four Lines Fiduciary and Four Lines Multiple Warehouse accounting. The person who answers your email is named in your welcome note and stays on your matter until the last account is closed.
Email handled@fourlinescapital.com · answered within one business day
We use proven, secure technology to streamline.
Payments by StripeCard and bank details never touch our systems.- Identity by Stripe IdentityYour ID is verified by Stripe, not stored by us.
Intuit App Partner · SilverHistory of working with critical accounting providers such as Intuit. Every estate's record is kept in QuickBooks.
Documents & signatures in ShareFileThe secure client portal CPA and law firms use: your own folder, encrypted, audit-logged. Forms that carry your SSN are signed there, never emailed.- ✓Money-back guarantee, per accountRefunded if we can't get an institution handled.
- ✓No power of attorney requiredYou sign; the institution moves the money; we never hold it. If one institution insists on a limited one for a single task, it's your call.
- What it is: a done-for-you service for executors and successor trustees. We contact every financial institution on your list, prepare exactly the paperwork each one requires, and follow up until each account is transferred to the estate, the surviving owner, the beneficiary, or the trust.
- What's included: the first month's notifications — death certificates, the three credit bureaus, Social Security and the VA, mail, the estate or trust tax ID, passport and license cancelled, accounts you don't know about found before anything is frozen, every deadline on a calendar — and a real person who answers within one business day. Household & benefits (employer, pensions, insurance, subscriptions, the first vehicle) is the other half.
- What it costs: $1,099 for Notifications & identity including your first institution; $299 for Household & benefits; then $219 per additional institution ($309 for brokerage and retirement accounts, +$79 for accounts held in a trust). Certified copies, postage, and newspaper fees at exact cost, charged once when the work is done. Usually chargeable to the estate.
- What it isn't: legal or tax advice. We never sign for you, hold funds, or decide who gets what.
What we don't do
- Decide who gets what, or when. Titling decides where each account goes; the institution confirms it; disputes go to the estate's attorney. We don't give legal or tax advice, prepare court petitions, or appear in court.
- Act as your agent. No power of attorney is required — you sign every form, the institution moves the funds, and we never log in to the deceased's accounts or hold or move money. In the rare case an institution will only work through a limited power of attorney for one specific task, we tell you first — it's limited to that task, in writing, revocable, and your decision.
- The parts that must be done in person: getting appointed, opening the estate account, a Medallion signature guarantee, a branch ID check. We tell you exactly when, where, and what to bring.
- Mark up costs. Certified copies, postage, notary, DMV and newspaper fees are charged to your card at exactly what the vendor charged, itemized, in one batch when the work is done — we pay the vendor, you never chase an agency, and nothing is added on top.
Four steps. You sign. We do the work.
Build your order, then a hold on your card
Count the institutions, tick what you want, see the price. Stripe authorizes your card — nothing is charged until after the call.
Book the call, then sign
Pick a slot right after checkout — a 30-minute call with the person handling your accounts: we go through your list, confirm your identity and authority (a letter from the estate's attorney, or your Letters / trust certification with a one-page consent to communicate), and send the agreement to your secure folder to sign. Banks will ask for the same things; we ask first.
We prepare, you sign, we send
Letters and forms come to you for signature. We mail them with the certified copies, make the calls, and chase the follow-ups.
You see every account's status, and you can always ask
Reported → documents sent → in progress → transferred, for each account, with what each institution said and a copy of every letter. An email at every change, a Friday summary, a status page you can open any time — and a person who answers your questions within one business day. See a sample status page →
Honest answers
Can the estate pay for this? +
Usually. Reasonable costs of administering an estate are paid from the estate before anything is distributed, and this is administration — the same category as the funeral home and the certified copies. Most people are buying this before the estate has a bank account, so: pay with a personal card, keep the receipt (it names the estate or trust), and reimburse yourself once the estate account is open. A trustee who already controls the trust's account can pay from it directly. Whether a particular cost is reimbursable in your case is a question for the estate's attorney, which is why we say "usually."
What do I pay besides your fee? +
The out-of-pockets: certified death certificates from the county (roughly $8–26 each depending on the state and county), certified mail with return receipt for each packet, a notary where an institution's own affidavit needs one, DMV title fees, and the newspaper's fee if you add the creditor notice. We pay the vendor and charge the card you paid with, once, when the work is done (monthly if it runs longer), every item listed at the exact amount — you never log in to a county or newspaper site or chase an agency yourself, and nothing is marked up. If a bank loses a packet and we have to send it again, you pay the second stamp and nothing else.
Can I ask you questions? +
Yes, as many as you have, for as long as the work runs. Reply to any email from us. You'll get an answer from the person handling your accounts within one business day — usually the same day. We answer anything about the process and the paperwork. When a question is really a legal or tax one ("should I disclaim this," "which IRA option"), we'll tell you that plainly and hand you the exact question to ask the estate's attorney or CPA, so that conversation is short.
What if you can't get an account handled? +
Then you don't pay for it. If we can't get an account to transferred at an institution we charged you for — despite you signing what's needed, getting appointed where the account requires it, and doing the in-person steps — we refund our fee for that institution: $139, or $199 for a brokerage or investment account, plus any trust surcharge, including for the first institution in the base price. Costs we've already paid on your behalf (certified copies, postage) aren't part of the guarantee, and neither is an account that turns out not to exist or to be held differently than described. No forms, no argument: reply to any email and it's done.
Do I need to be appointed by the court first? +
No. We start now: the notifications, the freezes, the case numbers, and the accounts that don't need probate (joint, beneficiary, trust) can all be finished before you're appointed. Accounts in the deceased's name alone wait for your Letters; the moment you have them, we send the second packet. Most orders run six to ten weeks end to end because that's how long courts and banks take, not because we're slow.
Is this legal advice? +
No. You are advised to consult your attorney as you work through the estate or trust. We prepare and send clerical notifications and account paperwork using information you provide. We don't advise on the law, prepare court filings, or represent you. Where a step needs an attorney, we'll say so, and the app's checklist flags it.
What do you need from me? +
The death certificate (or we order it), a quick ID check, and proof you're entitled to act: simplest is a letter from the estate's attorney confirming your role and authorizing us — one document covers everything, and we copy the attorney on updates. Otherwise, the will or your Letters (or the certification of trust naming you trustee) plus a one-page consent that lets institutions talk to us about requests you've signed. No power of attorney is required — you sign, the institution moves the money. In the rare case an institution will only work through a limited power of attorney for one specific task, we tell you first — it's limited to that task, in writing, revocable, and your decision. Until Letters issue we do only the pre-appointment work; the day they issue, the second round starts. Social Security numbers and dates of birth never travel by email or web form.
Which states? +
Everything in the pack is federal or institution-level and works in every state. The two add-ons (property-tax notice, creditor publication) are available in California, Florida, Texas, and New York today.
Why does each account cost what it does? +
Because each one is real work, usually twice: the call to its estate department and the first packet now, then once you're appointed a second packet and the follow-up calls until the money has actually moved. Averaged across the institutions we've mapped, that's about three hours. Brokerages add transfer forms and a Medallion guarantee; trust accounts add the tax ID and a compliance review. As we automate the mechanical parts the price comes down, and existing customers get the lower rate on anything we haven't started.
What if a bank needs something you can't do? +
Some do. A brokerage may require a Medallion signature guarantee you have to get in person; a branch may need to scan your ID. We tell you exactly what, where, and what to bring, and we handle everything around it.
Clean accounts? The accounting is a fixed price.
Every estate or trust eventually owes an accounting — to the court, or to the beneficiaries. If yours is bank, brokerage, and retirement accounts with the statements on hand, we already hold most of the inputs by the time your accounts are handled, and we produce the accounting in the form your state expects, every figure tied to a statement, for a fixed $495 (up to six accounts and twelve months; $50 per additional account). Delivered to your attorney to file, or to the beneficiaries. If it's rejected on form, we fix it free.
Missing years, commingled money, a business or property sale inside the period? Then it isn't the clean case, and we'll say so before you pay rather than guess.
Start with the list you already have.
Set the number of accounts above and see your price. Or download the free app first, build your checklist, and come back when you know what's on it.
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