Will with assets abroad

sunflowers123

Hello

Bit of a long winded story but will try to sum it up as briefly as possible!

My father remarried about ten years ago. Last year he drew up a Will in the uk through a solicitors dividing his assets here and his shares abroad. He has since heard that a separate Will is required in respect of his shares. Is this correct? Does this mean the Will is only valid in respect of his UK assets?

To complicate matters he recently told me that many years ago, he actually drew up a Will regarding his shares in the country he bought them from. He never mentioned this before and his UK Will actually is quite different to this.

So my question is, which Will stands? My (guess) is the UK Will minus the shares and the Will abroad.

My father is of ill health and I think the thought of changing it would be too much for him. His wishes are as stated in his UK Will and has asked all the beneficiaries (me, sibling and wife) to respect them, which we all have agreed to. However, in reality I'm not certain how the others genuinely feel as his current Will is more in my favour.

Can anybody offer any guidance please? Sorry if the answers are obvious!

Yorkshireman99

sunflowers123 wrote: »

Hello

Bit of a long winded story but will try to sum it up as briefly as possible!

My father remarried about ten years ago. Last year he drew up a Will in the uk through a solicitors dividing his assets here and his shares abroad. He has since heard that a separate Will is required in respect of his shares. Is this correct? Does this mean the Will is only valid in respect of his UK assets?

To complicate matters he recently told me that many years ago, he actually drew up a Will regarding his shares in the country he bought them from. He never mentioned this before and his UK Will actually is quite different to this.

My father is of ill health and I think the thought of changing it would be too much for him. His wishes are as stated in his UK Will and has asked all the beneficiaries (me, sibling and wife) to respect them, which we all have agreed to. However, in reality I'm not certain how the others genuinely feel as his current Will is more in my favour.

Can anybody offer any guidance please? Sorry if the answers are obvious!

A UK will can only dispose of assets within the jurisdiction. Usually foreign jurisdiction will allow an application to use the UK will. This needs the services of a lawyer in the foreign country. There are UK firms that specialise in this. What country is involved.

sunflowers123

Thanks for your quick reply. It is Hong Kong.

Yorkshireman99

sunflowers123 wrote: »

Thanks for your quick reply. It is Hong Kong.

Google is your friend on this.

Keep_pedalling

Well the simple thing for him to do would liquidate those shares now, and gift the proceeds to the beneficiary, or transfer them to the beneficiary as a gift.

Yorkshireman99

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Well the simple thing for him to do would liquidate those shares now, and gift the proceeds to the beneficiary, or transfer them to the beneficiary as a gift.

Given the poor health of the owner of the shares this is unlikly to be simple. How exactly do you suggest this can be done if it is so easy?

Keep_pedalling

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Given the poor health of the owner of the shares this is unlikly to be simple. How exactly do you suggest this can be done if it is so easy?

Should just be a matter of instructing a broker to sell, however whether it is that simple or not, my suggestion might not be a such great idea as it could lumber him with a large CGT bill.

Yorkshireman99

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Should just be a matter of instructing a broker to sell, however whether it is that simple or not, my suggestion might not be a such great idea as it could lumber him with a large CGT bill.

AIUI the shares are held abroad. If that is so then selling them and getting the proceeds may be anything but simple.

troubleinparadise

Your father could sell the shares now, and incur the bureaucratic hassle and a CGT bill.

Or leave things, and then you have the headache of instructing solicitors, probably abroad, to deal with it for you, incurring unknown legal fees at arms length, further probate fees and taxes (whether IHT or other). This is also likely to take possibly a year or more to achieve, on top of the UK estate administration.

I had to deal with a similar issue (different country) because my mother was afraid of the CGT - that was probably a third of what it cost after her death. Ok, it wasn't her problem by then, but I can say that dealing with it was far more stressful than the UK estate.

If possible, would you be able to persuade your father to liquidate the shareholding, with support? Of course, his poor health may prevent this. Otherwise, I would suggest you use google to track down more specialist information. Do you have any HK contacts who could advise you, or suggest an HK/UK law firm they know?

sunflowers123

Thank you for all of your replies.

My father is of sound mind but very ill health and ideally would like the quickest and most hassle free way of resolving this. So it's selling and gifting the shares?

Back to my original post, if nothing were done to the two existing wills, does it mean the UK will be partially invalid and the HK one will stand (even though this is a much older will)?

getmore4less

Are the shares traded on any stock exchange?

what I suggest is one of you investigates, identify the shares, the paperwork that shows they belong to your dad and how they can be sold.

It could get harder later.

The other thing to check is the date of the will and the marriage and if HK will is invalid due to a later marriage.

In case it may be relevant is the wife UK domiciled.