Withdrawing shares ISA - do all executors have to agree?

longleggings

Hi
My mother died before xmas and probate has just come through - unfortunately at the height of Corona and stock market crash
We have 3 executors and when to cash in the stocks/shares ISA may become an issue. The ISA is with Invesco.
Do we all need to agree as to when to cash in the ISA (obviously the market is very volatile at the moment) and i for one would rather wait a few weeks.
Are Invesco legally bound to get authorisation and agreement from all 3 executors before we decide when to withdraw the monies from the ISA ?
Any information gratefully received and thanks in advance
L

Bobziz

If all 3 executors are on the grant then it's my understanding that you will need to act together. You can keep the ISA invested for up to 3 years, which would give it a good chance of recovering existing paper losses. This assumes that the beneficiary is not your mums spouse.

This may help: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/wills-and-probate/content/334

longleggings

Thanks Bobziz - based on a communication i had on Sat from Invesco it seems that one executor (my brother) has already given the go ahead to redeem the ISA (at a stock market low) without prior agreement from the other two. I don't think this was necessarily deliberate (just ill informed). In this situation I wonder if Invesco have a duty to check all executors instructions. Can't contact them atm on phone  due to corona, only email available.
Any views ?

Bobziz

Are all executors named on the grant ?

relaxtwotribes

Find out if Invesco will allow a transfer of the ISA holdings in specie.  If yes, the beneficiaries who want to wait can open an account with Invesco, have their %age transferred into that account, whilst any beneficiaries who want to sell can instruct Invesco to do that and send them the money.  This is what Hargreaves Lansdown will do if asked.

longleggings

Yes all 3 executors are named on the grant. I can try and contact Invesco to ask about 'in specie'.
My main concern is whether Invesco may have been negligent in which case i can explore other avenues

Bobziz

I am dealing with the administration of my father's estate and he had an Invesco product. They need to see the grant if he value of the ISA is above 5k. If below, then they don't need to.see it, but do need all executors to sign the paperwork. However, in this case as they wouldn't see the grant, they wouldn't know if all executors had actually signed. Did the other executor compete the paperwork ?

Brynsam

longleggings said:

Yes all 3 executors are named on the grant. I can try and contact Invesco to ask about 'in specie'.
My main concern is whether Invesco may have been negligent in which case i can explore other avenues

Although executors need to act unanimously, it doesn't mean all the executors have to sign each bit of paper.  If your brother signed a form to sell, did he do so on the basis he had authority to give the instruction - in other words, have you seen the form he signed? That's your starting point, rather than rushing straight to the compensation argument you are clearly considering. Bereavement isn't a great experience, and unless there are grounds for believing (and indeed being able to demonstrate) that you have suffered a major financial loss, don't go there; it will just drag things out at a time when you will all be feeling pretty miserable. 

longleggings

Thanks both for your input. I think my main question maybe to do with whether the authorisation to Invesco or whoever includes a date on which to sell and how that date is decided. This is obviously more of an issue at the moment.

Brynsam

longleggings said:

Thanks both for your input. I think my main question maybe to do with whether the authorisation to Invesco or whoever includes a date on which to sell and how that date is decided. This is obviously more of an issue at the moment.

Perhaps establishing the facts is your best starting point - but unless the ISA holds serious money and is a major part of the estate, don't get disproportionately worked up. It's so easy to do that in the aftermath of a death, when things you'd have taken in your stride somehow assume a huge importance.

longleggings

The ISA holds around 160K and is quite a major part of the estate though I accept your advice that now is the time for level heads. It's just been complicated a bit by the timing of the Corona crash.
Thanks for you inputs so far - i'll try and establish more facts
l