Stocks Transfer After Death - Help!

Vortigern

luke222010 wrote: »

I am slightly confused though. Not sure why we would look to go through Equiniti... The shares are with Santander. Can you elaborate please?

As Linton says, Equiniti are the registrar for many companies.

If your grandfather held Santander share certificates your mother needs to contact the registrar (Equiniti) to transfer ownership of the shares from grandfather to her as executor. She can then sell the shares, either though Equiniti or though a cheaper broker.

If the shares were held in a nominee account (not as certificates) you would need to contact the nominee. The nominee could be any broker, but I think Equiniti Shareview are a corporate sponsored nominee for Santander, so in your case they could be acting as registrar and/or as nominee.

Santander are a Spanish registered company, so procedures may differ from those for ordinary UK shares. I have never held Santander shares, so there's little more I can tell you. Perhaps a Santander shareholder might contribute their experience to this thread.

Afterthought: Shouldn't the solicitor be doing this?

luke222010

Thanks for the replies both.

The solicitor has already been paid for their (somewhat poor) services back in August. The forms my Mother has received were direct from the companies themselves, so i'm not sure if the solicitor has to deal with these now they have cropped up a few months after we assumed the estate was finalised.

Thanks again for the replies, these forums are great with such knowledgable people to help, especially with difficult things like this.
I will get the forms filled out and come back if I have any problems.