question on shares and equity isa?

homealone_2

i bought shares for my children, must have been 20 years ago or more in what was then gas, electricity and bt. i sold bt uears ago but got some called centrica for free. anyway i have held on to these for years, times when i was desperate i would still not part with them. i then went on to get an equity isa that i paid £50 into every month for years. this is worth £3500 on its own and i think shares total would be about £5000. i have for the last 2 years battled with debts that my husband left me with and am struggling to make ends meet. i had a chat with them about this yesterday saying how hard i was finding things (huge understatement). even have tax man after me now for underpayments i knew nothing about till monday. i know i should have put them in their names years ago but was always worried if i died when they were small their dads would just spend it. now they have grown up and hanging on to them is stopping me from making arrangements to repay my debtsat an affordable levelas it looks as though they are mine. i just cant sell them and use myself as already stated i have held on to them through times when i needed it most, but the majority of the cash used to purchase them was left to them by deceased relatives. sorry for waffling. my question is if i were to sell these could i have the cheques made out to them? i cant have them going in my account for obvious reasons. also who would be the best people to go to to sell them at a reasonable price? thanks and sorry for such a long post

lisyloo

Do you have any paperwork that was issued when the wills of the deceased relatives were sorted?

Were solicitors involved in the split of the will?
Were other relatives involved who are still around?

I think you are going to need some way to prove this money isn't yours.
Formal paperwork from a solicitor would be ideal.

Another option is to open a seperate account and don't declare it.
It's not dishonest as the money isn't and never was yours.
But not having on your main statement would avoid lots of questions and having to prove it.

If you are asked questions about your money then you can quite legitimately and honestly leave out this money as it isn't yours.

homealone_2

lisyloo wrote: »

Do you have any paperwork that was issued when the wills of the deceased relatives were sorted?

Were solicitors involved in the split of the will?
Were other relatives involved who are still around?

I think you are going to need some way to prove this money isn't yours.
Formal paperwork from a solicitor would be ideal.

Another option is to open a seperate account and don't declare it.
It's not dishonest as the money isn't and never was yours.
But not having on your main statement would avoid lots of questions and having to prove it.

If you are asked questions about your money then you can quite legitimately and honestly leave out this money as it isn't yours.

unfortunately no, there is no paperwork to back up any of this. it was just given to me and them jointly at the reading of the will and it was me that decided to split it amongst my 3 children. as i said did not want to just put in account in their name as too accessible by others. i guess all i can do is ring them and ask

getmore4less

If the money was really left to them in a will and they were under 18 then I think there should have been trusts set up and financial advice taken.

barak

homealone - Without knowing all the circumstances I feel that you might reasonably be considered to have been holding the shares informally "In Trust" for your children.

If so, you could transfer them into your children's names simply by completing share transfer forms and ticking the "appropriate" box on the reverse - to allow transfer without consideration [i.e no payment] or stamp duty - and send the transfer forms to the companies' registrars, who would issue new certificates in the names of your children.

You might want some professional advice on this but I wonder what others think?

Reaper

homealone wrote: »

unfortunately no, there is no paperwork to back up any of this. it was just given to me and them jointly at the reading of the will

If there was a will then there is paperwork. Can you get a copy of the will? If it was given to you jointly then I am guessing you were entitled to 25% each, but it depends on the wording.

it was me that decided to split it amongst my 3 children. as i said did not want to just put in account in their name as too accessible by others.

It would not have been accessable if you were the trustee as only you could have made decisions on the running of the account.

Jake'sGran

barak wrote: »

homealone - Without knowing all the circumstances I feel that you might reasonably be considered to have been holding the shares informally "In Trust" for your children.

If so, you could transfer them into your children's names simply by completing share transfer forms and ticking the "appropriate" box on the reverse - to allow transfer without consideration [i.e no payment] or stamp duty - and send the transfer forms to the companies' registrars, who would issue new certificates in the names of your children.

You might want some professional advice on this but I wonder what others think?

I was going to suggest this. Transferring to the children will be an easy thing to do. I believe you might be able to run off the transfer forms from your computer. I transferred a fund to my OH and it was very easy.

Are your grown up children unaware that they own these shares?

Incidentally, I have kept my BG shares from years ago (in a PEP-now ISA) and apart from getting free Centrica shares I also gained free shares in United Utilities and National Grid. Did you not get these?

homealone_2

Jake'sGran wrote: »

I was going to suggest this. Transferring to the children will be an easy thing to do. I believe you might be able to run off the transfer forms from your computer. I transferred a fund to my OH and it was very easy.

Are your grown up children unaware that they own these shares?

Incidentally, I have kept my BG shares from years ago (in a PEP-now ISA) and apart from getting free Centrica shares I also gained free shares in United Utilities and National Grid. Did you not get these?

yes i do remember something about national grid but not united utilities. i have sent off to have equity isa dissolved and they would only make cheque payable to myself and if i transfer any funds to someone else it will just look like i am trying to hide money. so when it arrives am going to pay off one of husbands debts, will leave me with lump in throat but there you go. as for shares have just checked and have them in BG, CENTRICA AND NATIONAL GRID and am going to try and split them evenly and transfer in their names. am hoping that by my disclosing the equity money they will believe me when they see money gone to kids...will keep you posted and thanks everyone

jimjames

Reaper wrote: »

If there was a will then there is paperwork. Can you get a copy of the will? If it was given to you jointly then I am guessing you were entitled to 25% each, but it depends on the wording.
.

Looks like it was a decision to make this investment with the proceeds from the will not a gift from the will itself.

The re-registering of them in your children's names sounds like a good plan. Based on those values there should be no capital gains tax issue but you may want to check if there is a cost to register.

I've got 2 sets of shares in a company. Due to an error my name is spelt differently so I get everything in duplicate. I contacted the registrars to let them know & stop the waste of paper/postage. They wanted £65 to correct the error! Sadly the recycling just gets extra paper as a result.

Andy