Lost Share Certificate

Andy_Paget

I have a friend who recently lost his father through ill health. When going through his fathers paperwork he discovered reference to shares held with Abbey National (now Santander). He has looked into what he needs to do to sell the shares and has been told that he needs to pay a fee (£30 I believe). Does anyone know if there is a way to avoid paying the fee or, in fact, needing a paper certificate at all. Certainly when I trade shares, I never see a paper certificate...
Thanks

DocProc

Certainly when I trade shares, I never see a paper certificate...

I suppose you use a spread betting account?

Not the same as buying the real thing, is it?

More information is needed from your friend to be of any real help here, don't you think?

Andy_Paget

Hello DocProc.

No, I don't do spread betting. I use a broker (Jarvis Investment Management) and trade my shares through their website. I don't know if they hold my share certificates...?

I sense from the tone of your thread that you are a bit scornful of my posting. I am only trying to save my friend 30 quid here. I'm not some hot shot trader, rather a rank amateur looking for some friendly advice. Question is, does my friend need a paper certificate to sell shares?

p00hsticks

If he holds the shares directly rather than in a nominee account then I think the answer is that he would be expected to produce the certificate in order to sell them.

What's not clear from your post is whether the £30 is the fee a) to replace a lost certificate or b) to sell the shares.

Questions I'd be asking are

Are you sure that there ever was a certificate for these shares ?
Are you sure that the shares are still held in the deceaseds name - i.e. they weren't sold by the father (in which case he would have handed over any certificate he had ) ?

Prsumably your friend has spoken to the registrar for the company involved ? I would have though that they should be able to confirm whether shares are held by the deceased directly or not, and also advise on the replacement of misssing certificates.

p00hsticks

Andy_Paget wrote: »

Hello DocProc.

I use a broker (Jarvis Investment Management) and trade my shares through their website. I don't know if they hold my share certificates...?

No they won't hold paper share certificates for you - it's all dealt with electronically. And I don't think that the shares will be in your name on te share register held by the registrar - they will be held by the broker in a 'nominee account'.

Your friend needs to determine if his father held his shares through a broker in a similar way (in which case he needs to identify the broker) or direct in his name (in which case he should probably have a paper certificate to prove it).

Andy_Paget

Thanks very much for your advice, p00sticks, I have discussed with my friend and it is looking as though he is going to have to pay the £30. His father did not have a nominee account as these were free shares given out when the Abbey went private. It is the price of a new certificate, not a fee for selling.

Thanks again.

barak

Andy_Paget wrote: »

.....His father did not have a nominee account as these were free shares given out when the Abbey went private. It is the price of a new certificate, not a fee for selling.Thanks again.

I may have misunderstood, but I'm not clear exactly what certificate your friend is after. Following the takeover, I now hold Santander CDIs in the Santander Nominee service run by Equiniti. There is no certificate - I just get an annual statement of my holding. There may have been other options, such as holding a Spanish share certificate, but the CDI option was the best for UK shareholders.

If your friend has any document from Santander with a shareholder's reference on it, the holding could be checked at
https://www.shareview.co.uk/Pages/PublicShareEnquiry.aspx

There is plenty of info. at
http://www.santandershareholder.co.uk/faqs#entitlement

Your shares explained

• What is an entitlement statement?
  Santander does not issue share certificates, like the one you may have held with Abbey or the Alliance & Leicester. Instead your share entitlement is recorded in electronic format in CREST (the UK electronic share clearance and settlement system) as CREST Depository Interests (CDIs). Each CDI you hold represents one Santander share and the Statement of Entitlement you receive once a year shows your total holdings. Statements are issued annually in December, however if you require one before this time, you can contact the registrars on 0871 384 2000 to arrange a copy, please note there is a charge for administration.

Andy_Paget

Thank you barak, this is interesting - I will speak with him today as I suspect his position is the same as yours. Very helpful advice.

Thanks you.

ERICS_MUM

Could these shares have been issued to your friend's dad when the Abbey changed from a building society to a bank and shareholders (certain types of account holder) were given free shares based on the balances of their accounts ? If so I suspect certificates would have been issued rather than held electronically.

Linda