Chapter 20 - § 20.22 • DECEDENT'S UNCOMPLETED SECURITY ORDERS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 20.22 • DECEDENT'S UNCOMPLETED SECURITY ORDERS

It may be that the decedent had placed open orders with a broker for the purchase or sale of securities on his or her behalf, and that death so changes circumstances that completion would be undesirable. As soon as possible after death, this situation should be explored and appropriate action taken to notify the broker of the death. At common law, there is a sharp cleavage on the question whether an act done by an agent, in good faith, and in ignorance of the death of the principal, is binding on the principal's estate, and particularly when the act done is not one that is required to be done in the name of the principal, as in the case of a securities broker.³⁹ C.R.S. § 15-14-502 provides that the death of...