Vanguard Full Agent Authorization Form: Filing, Signing, Revoking

The Vanguard Full Agent Authorization form, also known as Form AGENT or L003, lets you give another person broad, durable authority over your Vanguard investment accounts. To use it, you complete the form with your details and your agent’s details, sign it in front of a notary public and two qualifying witnesses on the same date, and mail every page to Vanguard in El Paso within 90 days of the notarization. Once processed, the agent can trade, move money, update beneficiaries, and close accounts on your behalf, and the authority survives your incapacity because the form functions as a durable power of attorney under Pennsylvania law.¹

What You’re Handing Over

A full agent operates with nearly the same authority you have. The form authorizes the agent to buy, sell, and exchange Vanguard mutual funds and trade stocks, bonds, and other securities in your brokerage accounts. The agent can transfer assets between your Vanguard accounts, redirect distributions to a bank account, and redeem assets with the proceeds mailed in anyone’s name, including the agent’s own.¹

The agent can also change your beneficiary designations (and name themselves as a beneficiary), update your address and banking details, open a new brokerage account in your name, and pull all of your statements and transaction history, including records from years before the agent was appointed.¹ The agent can close accounts entirely without your prior approval.²

A few things stay off limits. The agent cannot appoint someone else to act on your behalf, register you for online access, or change your existing online access credentials.¹ The agent also owes you a fiduciary duty and is legally required to act in your best interest.

The authorization has no expiration date and does not need renewal. Your agent keeps the powers throughout your lifetime, even after you become incapacitated, unless you revoke the authorization, limit its duration on the form, or a court terminates it.¹ You can only sign the form while you still have legal capacity.²

Which Accounts the Form Covers

Full agent access applies to individual accounts, joint accounts, and any future accounts you open under the same Social Security number and ownership. If you open a new brokerage account after the form is processed, Vanguard may contact your agent for association and control information, and you may need extra steps to extend access to that new account.¹

Several account types are not eligible:

Trust accounts and any accounts where you act in a fiduciary capacity
UGMA/UTMA and custodial accounts
Education savings accounts
Organization and corporate accounts

Trusts and corporate accounts need different documentation, and Vanguard will reject the Full Agent Authorization form for those. One other note: joint account owners already have full authority over the joint account, so adding a joint owner as full agent is redundant.¹

What to Gather Before You Start

Missing any required item means Vanguard sends the paperwork back. Have the following ready.

For the account owner:

Full legal name
Last four digits of your taxpayer ID (not the full Social Security number)
The Vanguard account numbers you want the agent authorized on

For the agent:

Full legal name
Primary residence address (P.O. boxes and rural routes are not accepted)
Full Social Security number or employer ID number
Date of birth
Daytime and evening phone numbers
Affiliation disclosures indicating whether the agent is a control person or affiliate of a public company, a Vanguard employee, or associated with a stock exchange, FINRA member firm, or municipal securities dealer

If the agent is an organization, that organization must also submit Vanguard’s Organization Resolution form with supporting documents. If a trust is serving as agent, the trustee must complete a Trustee Certification form.¹

Filling Out the Form

Print in capital letters using black ink.¹ Return every page you were given, even the ones you leave blank.

Section 1 is the account owner’s signature acknowledging the powers being granted. Do not sign yet. This signature happens in front of the notary and both witnesses.
Section 2 is your identifying information: full legal name and the last four digits of your taxpayer ID.
Section 3 covers revocation. Fill it in only if you are revoking a previously authorized agent. If you are adding your first agent, leave it blank but keep the page with the packet.
Section 4 is where you specify which accounts the agent is authorized on. You can also indicate whether the authorization extends to future accounts under the same ownership.
Section 6 is completed and signed by the agent with their personal information. Naming more than one agent? Photocopy this section and have each agent fill out a separate copy.
Section 7 is a second signature from the account owner that completes the execution.

Make a copy of the completed form for your records before mailing.¹

Signing, Notarizing, and Witnessing

This is where most forms get rejected. Vanguard requires three things at the same sitting: your signature as the account owner, notarization by a notary public, and the signatures of two witnesses. All four dates (yours, the notary’s, and each witness’s) must match.¹

Rules for the witnesses:

Each witness must be at least 18 years old.
The agent named on the form cannot serve as a witness.
The notary public cannot also serve as a witness.

The notarization must be dated within 90 days of Vanguard receiving the document. If more than 90 days pass between the notary date and the day Vanguard opens your envelope, you will need to sign, notarize, and witness the form again.¹

Where to Send It

Once the form is signed, notarized, and witnessed, mail the complete package to Vanguard.

By USPS:
Vanguard
P.O. Box 982902
El Paso, TX 79998-2902

By FedEx or UPS overnight:
Vanguard
5951 Luckett Court, Suite A2
El Paso, TX 79932

Vanguard’s authorizations page also references a digital form option, though whether digital submission is available may depend on your account type.² To confirm what applies to your situation, call 877-662-7447.

Allow 5 to 7 business days for processing after Vanguard receives the form.³

Why Forms Come Back Rejected

Vanguard returns the form unprocessed if any required item is missing. The frequent problems:

Missing pages. Send every page, even sections left blank. Pulling out pages you thought were irrelevant is the fastest way to get the form kicked back.
Incomplete agent information. The agent’s full Social Security number or EIN, primary residential address, and signature are each independently required.
Signature date mismatch. The account owner, notary, and both witnesses must sign on the same date.
Stale notarization. If Vanguard receives the form more than 90 days after the notary date, it won’t be accepted.
Ineligible account type. Submitting for a trust, UGMA/UTMA, custodial, education savings, or corporate account will trigger rejection.
Wrong ink or formatting. Print in capital letters using black ink.

One quieter consequence: if your account currently has checkwriting enabled, appointing an agent automatically turns checkwriting off. You and your agent will both need to complete a new Checkwriting form separately to restore it.¹

How the Agent Uses the Access

After processing, an agent who is already a Vanguard client can log into their own account at vanguard.com and see yours through their existing credentials. An agent who is not a current Vanguard client should call 877-662-7447 to set up online access.¹ The agent still cannot register you for online access or change your login credentials.

Revoking or Changing the Agent

You can revoke an agent’s access at any time by phone or by mail. Section 3 of the same Form AGENT gives you four options:¹

Revoke all previously authorized full agents
Revoke all previously authorized limited agents
Revoke specific agents from all your accounts
Revoke specific agents from specific accounts only

Submitting a new authorization form to add a different agent does not automatically remove the old one. Previously authorized agents stay on your accounts unless you specifically revoke them in Section 3. To revoke by phone, call 877-662-7447.¹

If Full Authority Is More Than You Want to Give

Vanguard also offers a limited agent option. A limited agent can buy investments, transfer assets between your Vanguard accounts, and request distributions sent to your address or bank account of record. A limited agent cannot write checks on the account, send redemption proceeds to anyone other than you, change account ownership, change beneficiaries, close accounts, or open new ones.² If the goal is letting an advisor place trades or a family member handle routine transactions, limited authorization may be enough. Full authorization fits better when you need someone to step into your shoes completely, including planning for possible future incapacity.

How This Compares to a State Power of Attorney

Vanguard’s Full Agent Authorization form is itself a durable power of attorney under Pennsylvania law, with the agent’s powers and duties governed by 20 Pa.C.S. Chapter 56.¹ A general, non-durable power of attorney executed under your state’s laws would stop working if you became incapacitated. Vanguard’s form is designed to keep working through incapacity.²

If you already have a state-law durable power of attorney naming someone to handle financial matters, that document may give the agent authority over Vanguard accounts, but an outside power of attorney often triggers a longer legal review at the firm. Vanguard is likely to process its own form faster and with less friction. Using Vanguard’s form alongside your broader estate planning documents is the smoother path.

1
Vanguard. Full Agent Authorization
2
Vanguard. Investment Account Authorizations: Types and Requirements
3
Vanguard. Forms and Literature