Shares missed when sorting out will

dizzyscot

Hello,

I am looking for a bit of advice. My father passed away 8 years ago and left everything in his will to myself and my siblings. His lawyer and his brother were executors of the will. His finances were in a bit of a mess at the time of his death (not debts, just very disorganised), so it meant we just gave all the financial statements we could find to the lawyers for them to sort out. We were only in our early twenties at the time and not very savvy. Anyway, after some time it was all sorted out and the estate was settled.

However, there are two lots of shares that haven't been dealt with. I can only assume that we didn't find anything about them at the time so the lawyers were unaware that they had to include them in the estate. One is shares with a building society, and the other a fund, I think you call it. I called the company holding the fund years ago to see how I would go about getting it transferred into our names and they point blank refused to discuss the matter at all and said they could only speak to an executor. I am reluctant to pass it on to the lawyer as I don't know how much these shares are worth, so whether it is worth paying the lawyers fees to sort it, and would also rather not ask my uncle to deal with it as I think he would be anxious about doing so.

So years have gone by and still nothing has been done, and I get letters every six months with cheques for dividends that can't be cashed. So does anyone know if I have no choice but to pass it on the one of the executors? And what will have happened to 8 years of dividend cheques?

Sorry the post is so long, and thanks in advance for any advice given:o

Dizzy

wwl

Surely for the shares at least, the dividend statement indicates the company and number of shares, so you can look up the value at ft.com ?

dizzyscot

Yes, you are absolutely right. I actually got a letter about the shares the other day (spurring me on the try to sort it out) stating that they are worth just over £300, so not that much compared with what a lawyer might charge. So it really depends on the value of the fund. I've looked through the information that they send to indicate how well the fund is doing, but can't seem to figure it all out. The dividends tend to be for about £80 so not sure if that gives an indication of the fund value.

slowpoke_rodriguez

Google the fund name. It may well have changed, but it should be pretty easy to find the new name and the value.

FreeBear

If the executors were aware that the assets were as disorganised as you say, they should have completed a search of the Unclaimed Asset Register or done something similar with a mail-merge.

Are you a beneficiary of the shares & unit trusts ?
If so, go back to the solicitors in question, point out that they were somewhat lax in failing to complete a UAR search - Use this as leverage to negotiate a fixed, reduced fee (preferably zero) and instruct them to complete the transfer. They should be able to complete the task with a couple of letters, and if they do charge, I'd expect a bill of no more than £200 or so.

wwl

Could you ask your Uncle to appoint you to act on his behalf?

dizzyscot

Thank you so much for all the advice.

WWL, what would be involved in my uncle appointing me to act on his behalf? Would he just need to write to M&G Investments stating such?

Myself and my two sisters are the beneficiaries. I believe my younger sister got in contact with the lawyers about it a few years ago but I don't think she even got a reply to her email. Perhaps we need to be a bit more persistent to ensure we get a resolution. The executers were definitely aware of the disorganisation of my father's finances. We literally gave them a briefcase filled with pages and pages of bank statements, credit card statements, bills, etc. We paid a handsome sum for their services at the time and if I remember correctly it took about 9 months for the estate to be settled (I'm not sure if this is average).

wwl

dizzyscot wrote: »

Thank you so much for all the advice.

WWL, what would be involved in my uncle appointing me to act on his behalf? Would he just need to write to M&G Investments stating such?

I don't know - I had a quick search but could only find info on doing it before probate. Could you maybe just do an informal arrangement where you write everything & he just signs & sends it?.

dizzyscot

Yes, we could perhaps do that. I'm sure my uncle will want to help as he wouldn't like the thought of the shares that my father bought just being forgotten about. I was just hoping not to have to bother him with it, so perhaps your suggestion is best.

I may phone M&G again and hope to speak to someone a bit more helpful who can explain exactly what they would need to transfer everything into our names.

Thanks again for your advice.