Investment value for distribution of estate

Sea_Shell

Hi Everyone, a question for those of you who know these things….

Scenario…

An investment worth £10,000 at the time of death, and this is left 50/50 to two beneficiaries, one of which is the executor. Can the executor sell 50% of the shares to ‘payout’ the other beneficiary, and keep the remaining shares themselves, as they’d like their 50% to stay invested in that fund (assuming they have already been transferred into the executors name).

If so, if some time has now passed since the death, but estate not yet settled and the shares are now worth £15,000, can the executor only sell £5,000 worth of the shares to pass to other beneficiary and keep the balance for themselves, as the £10,000 was the value at time of death?? Conversely, what if the shares have dropped?

Does executor have to publish statements of said investment to prove valuations/sale?

I have tried to Google this, but just get the IHT rules surrounding this issue. Not concerned about that, as estate nowhere near limit.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Keep_pedalling

As it stands each beneficiary is entitle to half the shares so they have the option of receiving half the shares or £7500, the executor has no right to keep the capital gain for themselves.

Should the shares have fallen in value then they would each share the loss.

Sea_Shell

So if i were the non-executor beneficiary, how do i know/prove that the amount i finally get is the correct amount, if the estate accounts show investment equals £10,000?

RADDERS

Sea_Shell wrote: »

So if i were the non-executor beneficiary, how do i know/prove that the amount i finally get is the correct amount, if the estate accounts show investment equals £10,000?

I did a similar thing when my parents died but I got an upto date balance on the day I was making the payment. I then gave my sibling 50% of this value.

Keep_pedalling

Sea_Shell wrote: »

So if i were the non-executor beneficiary, how do i know/prove that the amount i finally get is the correct amount, if the estate accounts show investment equals £10,000?

The estate accounts should show the value, at the time of death and at the date of disposal or transfer to the beneficiary.

getmore4less

The estate accounts should list the assets

The value will be public information if traded shares.

Sea_Shell

Would you push the point/error of their ways if it could cause a family row...or just keep your head down?

Yorkshireman99

Yes. The is no reason the estate should not be dealt with correctly.

Malthusian

Are you saying you were left shares in XYZ which were worth £7,500 at the time they were due to be passed to you, but instead of passing you £7,500 in shares the executor passed you £5,000 in cash?

This is theft, pure and simple. And if you know what the shares were and they were publicly traded it's trivial to prove.

Yes I would push the point. I have no interest in maintaining cordial relations with thieving relatives.

Linton

The situation may not be that clear.....

Was the OP asked if he/she wanted shares or cash? If no then there is a case for the executor to answer. On the other hand if the OP said they wanted cash then it is reasonable for the executor to sell the shares immediately. The OP surely would have compained bitterly if the shares werent sold but had subsequently crashed in value.

getmore4less

The exact wording of the will can make a difference.

The executor may not have even cashed them in but kept them, all making the necessary adjustment on the cash account distribution.

The actual value of the shares to the cash account may be at a time chosen to transfer the shares with the final distributions later.

This should be shown in the estate accounts.


There may also be income/dividend distributions to account for.

An idea of the time line and the investment would help identify the details.
Date of death
Date of distribution
Investment details.