Equiniti fees

Shocking_Blue

Dear all,

Just wondered if any contributors may be able to advise.

A close relative who has recently passed away (I'm next of kin) had a small number of bank windfall shares (total value a few hundred pounds). Apparently Equiniti are the people to deal with for these. In order for me to sell the shares I apparently have to transfer them to my name using their Small Estate Declaration and Indemnity form, after which I can sell them. The total fees (transfer and sell) seem pretty hefty as a proportion of the actual share value. Not sure if there's any way round this.

Thanks in advance.

poppystar

I’m still dealing with Equiniti over a very small shareholding and it is frustrating! Really having done the remainder of the estate I almost got to the point of just waving bye bye to this relatively small amount of money. I totally sympathise.

 If it helps, what I was told is that I could choose to transfer or sell. I chose transfer and am so regretting it as they sent forms that are utterly incomprehensible - now I know why they said to phone back for help if needed! Only, of course, since then it’s been impossible to get a call answered. It may be different if you don’t have probate as I’m pretty sure then there are extra fees but I was told there would be no fee as long as I could provide the correct existing paperwork and grant of probate. I think those fees you mention are because you don’t have probate. Is that the case? In which case I think you will have no option but to pay though why they want them in your name first does seem strange.

Shocking_Blue

poppystar said:

I’m still dealing with Equiniti over a very small shareholding and it is frustrating! Really having done the remainder of the estate I almost got to the point of just waving bye bye to this relatively small amount of money. I totally sympathise.

 If it helps, what I was told is that I could choose to transfer or sell. I chose transfer and am so regretting it as they sent forms that are utterly incomprehensible - now I know why they said to phone back for help if needed! Only, of course, since then it’s been impossible to get a call answered. It may be different if you don’t have probate as I’m pretty sure then there are extra fees but I was told there would be no fee as long as I could provide the correct existing paperwork and grant of probate. I think those fees you mention are because you don’t have probate. Is that the case? In which case I think you will have no option but to pay though why they want them in your name first does seem strange.

Many thanks.

There's no probate, so that small estates fee is unavoidable I guess. The other fees are for selling the holdings. I guess also unavoidable. I guess it's a combination of flat rate charges and min fees that underlie the seemingly disproportionate charge.

Best of luck sorting yours out.

SB

 

kipsterno1

My understanding is once in your name you can use a platform of your own choice to sell. If you already have a trading account it might be cheaper.

doodling

Hi,

My experience is that it is a two stage process.

1. Get Equiniti to accept that you, as executor are now able to deal with the shares.  This involved sending them one of my court embossed grants of probate which they returned (promptly).
2. Sell the shares.  Equiniti has a sister company which will sell the shares for you.  I used them, despite the high fees, it was a matter of convenience as I don't have access to cheap share dealing facilities and the overall value was very low in relation to the rest of the estate, I just wanted to tick them off the list of things to do.  I was pleasantly surprised when the dealing costs were substantially lower than stated.  I get the impression that quite a lot of companies subsidise share dealing facilities for smaller shareholders in an attempt to reduce the overall number of shareholders and hence admin costs.

Hope that helps.  If the money isn't important and you can get the beneficiaries to agree then Equiniti can point you towards a charity which will accept transfers for free (helpful if the stated dealing costs are higher than the value).

Edited to add:  Sorry, I didn't see that you hadn't needed to obtain probate so the first step will be the Small Estate Declaration and indemnity.  I don't think that there is any way to reduce the costs of that part of the process.

SiliconChip

I've had to deal with Equiniti for similar shares, complicated by the fact that they were held by my dad who died in 2010 then had my mum's name added as executor and when she died I was executor for her estate. If I hadn't had to get probate I probably would have just gone through the steps to sell them through Equiniti, but as I had probate I eventually managed to get them transferred (free of charge) into my name and I've sent in the certificate to be added to one of my existing nominee portfolios so I can sell them at a time of my choosing and at a significantly lower cost.

As poppystar says, the transfer form is quite difficult to understand, I had it returned once as it needed a change but fortunately got it right the second time.

Shocking_Blue

Thanks all,

It seems the way I planned to do it was ok. Was aware of the possibility of transferring out into my own share dealing service elsewhere, but to tell you the truth keeping it simple was also a factor. Will transfer and sell (wasn't aware of Equiniti having a sister co that can sell the shares btw - just thought Equiniti had an online service (which makes me think - not sure if I would have to go through the procedure of opening a dealing account with them before I could sell via them?)).

BW,

SB