How are equities/funds priced in a will?

Mortgage_&_debt_free

Morning all

Apologies if this sounds a bit cold but I'm just trying to be practical;

I am awaiting probate on a relative's will. The person died several months ago before the recent slump in share prices.

Does anyone know how equities are priced i.e. are the assets frozen on the date of death or do they remain active throughout?

The reason I ask is that, & I don't know if this is an option, if they were frozen at the time of death and could be cashed at that price I could buy exactly the same shares back today and benefit from being able to buy far more of them as the price will have dropped substantially in the intervening months.

Is this a possibility or is the price on cashing taken at the day of cashing rather than death, in which case there's no point doing it?

Any advice gratefully received.

Aegis

I would think that unless the will specifically states that the assets should be sold and the money passed on you will end up being given the shares at their current value, and can then decide for yourself whether to keep or sell them. I'm pretty certain you don't automatically get an option to sell set up just because someone left them to you in a will.

Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear.

Mortgage_&_debt_free

Hi Aegis

Thanks for your post - I'm not sorry to hear it (after all I will be 100% better off than before whatever happens) but grateful for your view.

cheerfulcat

Having been through the process I can confirm what Aegis writes - for probate and capital gains tax purposes, the value of the shares is calculated from the price at the death of the holder but when it comes to selling them the price is the market price.

alared

I`m afraid I`ve got bad news for you because the shares are valued for tax purposes on the date of death.

The shares are only worth what you can get on the day you sell them not on the date of death.
So if they were worth £1 on the date of death but have gone down since to 50p,then that`s all they are worth today.

dzug1

For probate they are valued at the day of death. If they are transferred to you without being sold that is also your acquisition value for CGT. If you then sell them straightaway you will have incurred a capital loss.

If they were left to you in the will as shares, then that's all.

However if you accept them in lieu of a cash bequest then for that purpose they are valued on the day of transfer. (However for CGT it's still probate value)

Whenever and by whoever they are sold it will be at market value on the day of sale - they don't get 'frozen' in that sense.