Your parents and you should not meet with the EJ person. At all. Especially do not hint in any way that you will be leaving because they likely will make it horrible for your parents to get free (there are so many shitty things EJ reps have done to make it 10 times harder to get out).
There are no questions whatsoever you should be asking this person. Cancel the meeting and get things figured out to extricate the accounts as quickly as possible. Do not waste your time meeting with them.
Please clarify the following as it directly pertains to the accuracy of my following statements.
1. BOTH parents JUST inherited EJ accounts from their parent/s? Like within the last few months to under 1 year? WHO inherited from WHO and WHEN?
2. What type of accounts? ALL taxable/brokerages, or are there any IRA/401k/403b or other pre-tax/retirement accounts?
This is what I would do under the same circumstances (and will be if/when my MIL passes as all her accounts are at EJ as well).
FIRST: confirm (by phone/email) that accounts were switched over to new/owed accounts by parent that inherited. NEXT, make sure any inherited IRA/401k type accounts had a required minimum distribution taken if your parent was required to take one.
Then the following:
Basing this on the idea that this is concerning a very recent inheritance (under 1 year and hopefully a whole lot less time), then even tho there will be tax generated from the taxable/brokerage accounts when you sell off off funds/stocks/whatever... it is best to sell off EVERYTHING and go 100% cash. Stepped up costs applies on inherited things like this, and what that means is the date of death is the reset for the funds' value. So any loss OR gain is therefore reportable and taxable. If you sell off ASAP after inheriting, then you minimize the damage. This does not matter if any funds are inside any type of IRA or most any pre-tax retirement accounts (selling doesn't create any taxable events, just pulling money out does).
Inheriting parent should send a letter with a brief statement:
DATE
NAME OF EJ REP
Please sell ALL FUNDS/STOCKS and go 100% cash in all of my accounts. I wish to start from a cash basis and need a bit of time to figure out what my plans are. As such, I want everything sold and all cash position. Once this has been accomplished, please mail me statements showing all accounts in cash position and hold for future instructions from me. I do not wish ANY further actions taken whatsoever - no buying/selling by Edward Jones or any of their representatives - until such time as you receive further instruction from me.
Thanks,
NAME
If they refuse or otherwise insist on your parent coming in for a visit before inacting any instructions, print out two copies of this letter after mailing, go ahead and setup a meeting and go in person to have parent hand them a copy in person - confirm they received this in the mail and make note of this very conspicuously during this face to face meeting, maybe even have them sign "letter received, name/date" while you're there, and if the rep tries to talk them into things or anything other than what is in the letter, have parent pull out the copy and read it out loud and ask them what the problem is and why they are pressuring them to do things the are not ready to do right now? Then stand up, say they value their help, but what the need right now is TIME to process the death of their beloved relative and ask them to please do what they are instructed to do per letter confirmed and received, and parent will revisit in a month or so when they are able to think clearly. Then, thank them SO MUCH for their time reminder to please mail the statements after they have done what they were instructed to do in this letter they just confirmed they received. Then leave.
The key is to be sweet as pie to their face, and play the "flustered but hopeful" type to keep THEM on the hook - you want them thinking you're a nice lump of dumb they can play with until you hit them with the "BYE FELICIA" (see below).
I suggest you go online and make sure they do this. And be prepared to escalate because typically EJ reps get nasty when they sense people aren't gullible enough to let them walk all over them and could outright ignore/refuse or even close accounts/remove themselves off the accounts (which is a dick move as the EJ business model means that you have to play phone tag with corporate to get someone assigned to be the face of your account - they won't let anyone self-manage AT ALL).
As soon as you confirm the EJ accounts are cash, then go to either Fidelity or Vanguard. I personally like Fido, but Vanguard is great, and honestly there's others like T Rowe that are likely a great choice as well. Set up matching accounts with whatever is currently in EJ if they don't already have existing ones, so taxable/brokerage at Fido, inherited IRA at Fido, etc if that's the same as what is currently existing at EJ.
You then fill out the transfer forms with FIDO/VANGUARD/TROWE and have THEM pull the money over from the EJ accounts, and once it has been confirmed you've emptied all EJ, short email to confirm all EJ accounts are closed as of X date, thanks so much... BYE Felicia!! Do not respond to ANY phone calls, letters, emails or requests for meetings after you initiate transfers. Let the Fido/Vanguard/TRowe folks deal with their crap.
It may take a few weeks or months. EJ has very poor reputation for being helpful about losing accounts and you will see lots of sell fees, account transfer fees, closing account fees... because they can. You might be able to get the new company to reimburse you for some of the EJ fees, or offer a bonus for transferring over, so don't forget to ask!