Repapering

When an advisor changes firms or custodians, the client’s existing accounts do not simply follow them. Each account has to be re-opened and re-authorized at the new home: new-account applications, transfer forms, beneficiary and disclosure documents, and any firm-specific paperwork all have to be completed and signed again. That end-to-end re-execution is repapering.

How much repapering a move requires depends on whether the custodian changes. In an *internal repaper* — a same-custodian move where only the advisor’s firm or affiliation changes — the assets stay put and the custodian-side paperwork can be as light as a change-of-advisor form. In a *re-custody* move, the accounts move to a new custodian, so the full set applies: new-account forms, beneficiary and servicing forms, and an ACATS transfer that actually relocates the assets. Either way, the firm-side paperwork (advisory agreement, fee schedule, disclosures) still has to be re-executed.

Repapering is the operational heart of an advisor transition, and it is where books either move in weeks or drag on for months. The volume multiplies fast — every household, every account type, and every custodian variation adds forms — and a single NIGO rejection on any of them can send that account back to the start.

FastTrackr compresses repapering by collecting client data once, pre-filling every form, validating each submission against the receiving custodian’s rules, and routing it for e-signature — so the book repapers in a fraction of the manual timeline.