31 Oct What happens to my wife’s bond after her death?

Q. My wife recently passed and she had an inflation protected bond. If she did not list me as a beneficiary can I still cash that bond or does it have to go into a trust account?
— Husband

A. We’re sorry for your loss.

Treasury inflation protected securities, or TIPS, are medium- to long-term government guaranteed bonds.

The principal value of the bond is adjusted semiannually in accordance with the consumer price index. The annual fixed interest rate is paid semiannually and will vary based on the adjusted principal value.

The manner of purchase will govern how the TIPS are to be redeemed, said Catherine Romania, an estate planning attorney with Witman Stadtmauer in Florham Park.

If bought through the financial advisor or firm, redemption will likewise be through the financial advisor or firm, she said.

“Assuming they were purchased directly from the Treasury, a copy of the death certificate and the Letters Testamentary — indicating your authority as executor — will need to be produced along with properly completed Form FS 1455, which can be downloaded on the Treasury website, in order for the bonds to be redeemed by the executor of the estate,” she said.

If there was no will and the surrogate appointed an administrator, the procedure is the same, but the Treasury uses a different form (Form 5336), she said.

“In any case, absent a beneficiary being named on the security, the security must pass through the estate of the deceased,” Romania said. “If a beneficiary is named, the beneficiary would redeem the bond.”

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This story was originally published in October 2025.

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