A Guide for Families to Form 5173: why an American bank freezes the account of a German decedent; when the certificate is required and when a letter suffices; the Form 706-NA filing that normally precedes it; the executor exception; and how long the process takes.
An American broker told that an account holder has died in Germany will usually do one thing: freeze the account and ask for a transfer certificate. Nothing is released, nothing is sold, and no instruction is accepted until the certificate arrives.
It is the single most common cause of delay in a German estate holding American securities, and the delay is measured in many months.
The mistake this page exists to prevent is discovering the requirement late. The certificate is issued by the Internal Revenue Service only after the American estate tax position has been settled, which normally means after Form 706-NA has been filed and processed. An estate that waits until the broker refuses to act has already lost the time it takes to prepare that return.
The second point is that the certificate is not always needed, and families frequently spend months pursuing one in cases where a letter from the Internal Revenue Service or an American executor’s appointment would have answered the institution instead.
(1) Form 5173 confirms that United States estate tax on the assets of a decedent who was neither a citizen nor domiciled in the United States has been paid or provided for.
(2) American banks, brokers and transfer agents generally require it before releasing or retitling assets, and until it is produced the account stays frozen.
(3) It is required where the estate has a Form 706-NA filing obligation, that is where United States situs assets exceed 60,000 dollars.
(4) Where there is no filing obligation, the Internal Revenue Service issues correspondence confirming that no certificate is needed rather than issuing one, and institutions will normally accept that.
(5) It is not required for property administered by an executor appointed and acting in the United States.
(6) Obtaining one takes many months, and the time runs after the American return has been prepared, not alongside it.
Part I. Why the account is frozen
American estate tax on a non-domiciled decedent is a charge on assets situated in the United States, and the institutions holding those assets have reason to care whether it has been satisfied. The transfer certificate is the Internal Revenue Service’s confirmation that it has been paid or provided for, and an institution that releases assets without it exposes itself.
The freeze is therefore not obstruction and not a matter the institution can waive out of goodwill. It is also not confined to large accounts: the threshold that generates the filing obligation, and with it the certificate requirement, is 60,000 dollars of American situs assets.
Part II. When it is required, and when it is not
The requirement follows the filing obligation. Where American situs assets, together with adjusted taxable gifts and the gift tax specific exemption, exceed 60,000 dollars, Form 706-NA is due and the certificate is the ordinary route to release.
Where the threshold is not crossed there is no return and no certificate to issue. The Internal Revenue Service responds instead with correspondence confirming that none is needed, and American institutions will normally accept that correspondence in its place. Families who do not know this sometimes wait a year for a document that was never going to be issued.
There is a further exception of real practical value. The certificate is not required for property administered by an executor appointed and acting in the United States. Where the estate holds substantial American assets, opening an ancillary administration in the state where those assets sit can therefore replace the certificate route altogether, and is often faster than waiting for it.
| Situation | What the institution needs |
|---|---|
| American situs assets above 60,000 dollars | Form 5173, after Form 706-NA has been filed and processed |
| American situs assets at or below 60,000 dollars | Internal Revenue Service correspondence confirming no certificate is required |
| Property administered by an executor appointed and acting in the United States | No certificate; the executor’s appointment |
| Account held jointly with a survivor | Situs and estate tax analysis first; the position is not automatically outside the charge |
Part III. What the application needs, and what the wait costs
The application is built on the American return. The estate establishes the identity of the decedent and the fiduciary, the date and place of death, the schedule of American situs assets and their date-of-death values, and the position taken on the treaty reliefs. German documents are supplied in support: the death certificate, the certificate of inheritance or the notarial will with the record of its opening, and evidence of the fiduciary’s authority, generally with certified translations.
The waiting period is the point families underestimate. The return itself is due nine months after death, with a six-month extension available, and the certificate is issued after that return has been dealt with. In the meantime the assets cannot be sold, which matters where the portfolio is concentrated or where the estate needs liquidity to pay German inheritance tax, itself due on its own timetable.
An American institution may add requirements of its own, commonly a medallion signature guarantee on the transfer paperwork, which is obtainable only through an American financial institution and is a recurring obstacle for an heir who has no American banking relationship.
Part IV. Practical steps
- Establish the American situs figure before anything else. Whether the certificate is needed at all turns on the 60,000 dollar threshold, and the answer determines the whole timetable.
- Ask the institution in writing what it requires. Requirements differ between brokers, and a written answer prevents the paperwork being assembled twice.
- Consider an ancillary administration where the American assets are substantial. An executor appointed and acting in the United States removes the certificate requirement for property that executor administers.
- Prepare the German documents and translations early. The certificate of inheritance or the notarial will, the death certificate and proof of authority are needed in certified translation.
- Plan the liquidity around the freeze. German inheritance tax runs on its own timetable and the frozen American account cannot be used to pay it.
Conclusion
The transfer certificate is procedural, not substantive, and it is the longest single step in most German estates holding American securities. The three decisions that shorten it are made at the beginning: establishing whether the 60,000 dollar threshold is crossed at all, deciding whether an American ancillary administration should replace the certificate route, and assembling the German documents and translations before the American return is filed.
Form 5173 (transfer certificate) and the Internal Revenue Service procedures for its issue; Form 706-NA; sections 2101 and following and 6324(a) of the Internal Revenue Code; Treasury Regulations section 20.6325-1. Figures and statuses are stated as of September 2026.
- 13 October 2026: page created.
- IRS transfer certificate
- Form 706 and Form 706-NA
- United States situs assets
- Medallion signature guarantee
- Ancillary probate
- Erbschein, the German certificate of inheritance
- Death certificate
- The German certificate of inheritance for heirs living in the United States
- United States estate tax on a German estate, and the treaty reliefs
- German situs assets and the limited German charge
Contact
An estate with a frozen American brokerage account has decisions to take at the start, not the end. Ashford International Law PC advises families and their advisers on establishing the American situs position and whether a return is due; preparing Form 706-NA and the application for the transfer certificate; ancillary administration in the United States where that is the faster route; German documents, certificates and certified translations for American institutions; liquidity planning around the freeze and the German tax timetable, alongside the family’s existing advisers or leading the United States side end to end.
The firm is led by attorney Caroline Esche Ashford, PhD, JD. A graduate of Columbia University Law School, her practice focuses on international estate planning and the cross-border taxation and administration of estates and trusts, including the IRS transfer certificate and the release of American assets in a German estate. Dr. Ashford is also licensed to practice law in Germany. She advises in French and German as well as English.
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This guide is intended for general educational purposes and does not constitute legal or tax advice, nor does it create an attorney-client relationship. The matters described, Form 5173, the Form 706-NA filing obligation, the 60,000 dollar threshold, the executor exception and the documents American institutions require, depend on the specific facts, assets, countries and states concerned and on the law in effect at the relevant time, and they change. Statuses and figures are stated as of September 2026 and must be confirmed before any decision. Nothing here is advice on any particular estate or transaction. A family in this situation should obtain advice from qualified counsel in each relevant country promptly, and before the American return is filed.
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