Inheritance Quandry?

Ted_Hutchinson

My fathers estate some £12,000 is in three share funds.

It has to be split between 4 beneficiaries.

Is it usually more cost effective to sell the shares and split the cash (after deducting fees) or is it better to transfer the ownership of a quarter of each fund and pay the costs.

Pal

I would have thought that an investment manager would treat any revised split as being new investment by four different people anyway, so both routes would incur the same initial charges.

Also, do you all want to stay in the funds? If not, then just cash it in asap. It is no good worrying about relatively small fee differences when your capital is at risk from moving markets.

System

The general answer is that it is probably better to keep the investments and split them.

However, look at any documents for addresses/phone numbers and make contact with the relevant customer service department for any costs and limitations imposed.

Pal

The general answer is that it is probably better to keep the investments and split them.

Can you please explain why? Any bid/offer spread has already been paid, so I can only see that there would be costs associated with splitting the investments to end up with a group of funds that the four individual didn't choose for themselves.

I agree that Ted should phone the company and ask for details of both options.