Business ProfileforRaymond James & Associates

My father had his IRA at LPL Financial and his girlfriend had been “recommended” to transfer the entirety of the IRA into another IRA at Raymond James (where she had her $$ invested) but was done so without his beneficiary designation. He was 4 days into hospice and two weeks prior to his death on 12/28/2022 when the transfer occurred (12/14/2022). The beneficiary split was 34% for me, 33% for my brother and 33% for his girlfriend *****. Claudia H**** who I initially spoke to at Raymond James stated the reason for the transfer was for “improved communication” for *****. When speaking to *****, she stated that the transfer occurred before the discussion of the beneficiary designation. They told her after the transfer that she could not apply his original beneficiary designation with the POA she had. Raymond James recommended that this be done without following my father’s wishes and therefore was not in the best interest of my father. With pressure, Raymond James applied the original beneficiary designation to the new IRA but randomly (or not) changed the split where ***** would receive the greater amount of 34% and my brother and I would each receive 33% respectively. Most likely, they were attempting to provide their client with just a larger share as I transferred my portion to another investment firm while ***** kept hers there with her other assets. Currently they are looking into the issue with the split, with no resolution yet, however this entire process from the start appeared to be done improperly and unethically and should be looked into. It has been three weeks and they still have not corrected the amount I legally should have received from my fathers IRA as per his beneficiary wishes. They have not given an update as of yesterday’s date when I emailed them. Each time they responded prior they only say that it is being worked on. Still waiting.