What is an inheritance tax waiver?

An inheritance tax waiver is required by brokers in order to transfer stock ownership of a deceased person from his/her name into the new account which contains her/his estate assets. It is issued by the states, and is not required in all states. I do not know its purpose. An inheritance tax waiver is a document issued by the taxing authority like a state in order to prove that all inheritance taxes have been paid. In New Jersey it is used this way. If the estate has to pay inheritance taxes, it may withdraw up to half of the date of death balances of the decedent's bank accounts and deposit those monies into the estate account. The other half is frozen in order to ensure that the inheritance taxes are paid. After the inheritance tax return is filed and the state is satisfied that it is accurate and that all inheritance taxes are paid, it issues documents called tax waivers. Each waiver will identify one or another of the decedent's bank account by name of bank, account number and date of death balance. The executor takes the tax waiver to the bank and if all the information matches properly, the bank releases the half that had been frozen. No one gets that second half until the tax waivers are issued by the state.