ProSearch have sent me a letter and saying my dead father has 37 Shell shares

ladaowner55

Reed_Richards wrote: »

No financial institution should give you any money or items of value belonging to your deceased father. They should only deal with the executor or executors of the estate named on the Grant of Probate. The same applies to Pro Search; they could not get hold of the shares without proper authorisation.

that's the point I am the executor

cloud_dog

ladaowner55 wrote: »

that's the point I am the executor

So, you will have probate then, all good. It is the registrars you need to deal with not Shell (as previously mentioned).

camden_kid

ladaowner55 wrote: »

that's the point I am the executor

Might be worth editing your question to mention that as it is important information.

ladaowner55

Equiniti Shareview were super helpful and said there was more shares for me to claim, a Total of £5ks worth. And there is only a of £114 fee to pay.

so that is a save of £510 by not using prosearch.

pafpcg

ladaowner55 wrote: »

....., a Total of £5ks worth. And there is only a of £114 fee to pay.

What's the £114 fee? If Equintiti is simply changing the the name of the registered holder on the shares, the fee should be somewhat closer to £zero! Or are you paying them £114 to sell the share holding? In that case it might be cheaper to 'certificate' the shares in your name and then open an account with a low-cost execution-only share broker (JarvisXO, SVS, etc), send your new share certificate to them with the necessary transfer form and then sell your holding paying a selling fee of less than £10 (plus whatever fee Equiniti might charge for certificating your shares - £25?).

Reed_Richards

ladaowner55 wrote: »

that's the point I am the executor

As per what cloud_dog wrote, if you have Probate you will have certified copies of Grant of Probate (or Letters of Administration) to prove that you are authorised to take ownership of the shares. If you don't yet have Probate you will have to wait until you do.

Reed_Richards

ladaowner55 wrote: »

Equiniti Shareview were super helpful and said there was more shares for me to claim, a Total of £5ks worth.

But, according to what you wrote earlier, £5ks worth means you need probate.

Reed_Richards

In fact here is what the Citizens Advice Bureau have to say:

Do you always need probate or letters of administration
You usually need probate or letters of administration to deal with an estate if it includes property such as a flat or a house. Otherwise, you may not need probate or letters of administration if:

the estate is just made up of cash (that is, bank notes and coins) and personal possessions such as a car, furniture, and jewellery
all the property in the estate is owned as beneficial joint tenants This property automatically becomes wholly owned by the other owner
you had a joint bank account
the amount of money is small
you discover that the estate is insolvent, that is, there is not enough money in the estate to pay all the debts, taxes and expenses
there are certain life insurance policies and pension benefits in the estate.

I think you will find that without Probate you are not going to have the authority to take ownership of the shares.

eddyinfreehold

I have recently been through the business of realising lost shares held by my late father. It is a nightmare of administration and fees unless you are very patient.


I was joint Executor of his Estate and we WERE granted Probate. Even without Probate you remain the legal Executor of the Estate should have his Will signed and witnessed by a legal professional in the margin to prove this.


Like you, we did not have the share certificates. You will have to write as Executor to Shell, probably they have a Bereavement Service, and inform them of your status (not as son but Executor) and request details of any holdings managed by their appointed Registrar. They may require evidence of a holding number or member number which you might find in any paying in stubs or dividend evidence which should still be paid after death. They will require an accurate version of the last address they have on record which might be 10, 20 or in our case 35 years out of date. If you have any luck at this stage, the next step is to obtain replacement certificates. This will cost. Once you have these you are in a position to sell or transfer. This will also cost. I would guess that even if Equiniti are 'super helpful' the process will take about 3-5 months. Replies to my letters took around 3 weeks to be returned. It is a tedious long process but worthwhile in the end. If a holding is not financially worth bothering with, there is also a simple process for donating the shares to charity run by the Registrars if I remember. This neatly ties any small loose ends up. We had one holding of 6 shares worth about £18 that it was pointless selling.


I hope some of this helps. Good luck.

Vortigern

Reed_Richards wrote: »

But, according to what you wrote earlier, £5ks worth means you need probate.

According to Equiniti Shareview, at the link I posted above:

"If a UK Grant of Representation is not being obtained our Small Estate Service can be used by the Next of Kin or Executor(s) of the deceased holder. We are able to offer this service where the value of the holding(s) in each company, (shares and/or outstanding payments) was less than £10,000 at the date of death and when no Inheritance Tax is payable on the deceased’s UK estate."