Tracking down shares belonging to a parent with early stage dementia

SpanishArcher

Hi all - my elderly father took a tumble last year and his health took a beating. We now have Legal Power of Attorney over his financial and health matters. I am currently going through his financial affairs to try and tidy things up - he didn't share much with any of us in the past which is now proving a challenge as he can't remember much. I know he has shares in a number of companies as he receives dividend information in the post and monies appear in his current account. Regarding shares, my question is, if I know he has shares in a particular company, how can I find out how many and when they were bought etc? Is there any kind of centralised register with that information or do I have to contact every single company directly?

Grumpelstiltskin

Have you sorted through his documents to see if he holds paper share certificates or I doubt he has everything on line.

There is no central register.

He bank statements should show dividend payments usually twice yearly, so if you find one in January the next should be in July, these should help you sort out which companies are involved.

p00hsticks

SpanishArcher said:

Regarding shares, my question is, if I know he has shares in a particular company, how can I find out how many and when they were bought etc? Is there any kind of centralised register with that information or do I have to contact every single company directly?

You may not have to contact each company. There are three main share registrars in the UK (Capita, Computershare and LloydsTSB) so - assuming that they are shares in mainstream companies listed on the UK stock exchange - you just need to find out which registrar miantains the register for which of the companies (the shareholder section of the company website should tell you) and then contact the registrars directly.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/investing/article-1609147/Tracking-down-lost-shares.html

Keep_pedalling

Googling the name of the company + share registrar  (eg BT share registrar) should give you the people to deal with.

SpanishArcher

Thanks all. We only know the names of the companies he has shares in - we don't have any of the original paperwork to hand as yet.

Marcon

Try https://www.uar.co.uk