Are these lost to me?

Harlequeen69

I have been going through some documents from my late father and I've discovered that he bought shares in a number of companies for my nephews, who are not grown up. 

Unfortunately, for many years prior to his death he suffered with Alzheimers and it seems that letters were received by him from National Grid saying that they would sell the shares in my nephew's names if he didn't respond.  this appears to have been done in 2020. The dividends weren't banked for many years.  

Are these shares gone forever or is there a way to claim them back for my nephews.  It was my father's way of leaving them some money, but due to his illness, this seems to have back-fired. 

Any advice would be appreciated. 

eskbanker

Best bet will be to contact National Grid's share registrar to establish what happened and what can be done from here:

https://www.nationalgrid.com/investors/shareholder-information/shareholder-contacts

wmb194

Harlequeen69 said:

I have been going through some documents from my late father and I've discovered that he bought shares in a number of companies for my nephews, who are not grown up. 

Unfortunately, for many years prior to his death he suffered with Alzheimers and it seems that letters were received by him from National Grid saying that they would sell the shares in my nephew's names if he didn't respond.  this appears to have been done in 2020. The dividends weren't banked for many years.  

Are these shares gone forever or is there a way to claim them back for my nephews.  It was my father's way of leaving them some money, but due to his illness, this seems to have back-fired. 

Any advice would be appreciated. 

Did the letter not say what would happen with the proceeds? Was it actually from the share registrar in relation to NG shares? 

If it was only 2020 then it should be easy for the registrar to tell you what happened and pay out any money it holds that was due: the problems come when decades have passed and companies have changed hands a few times.

Harlequeen69

Thanks for the advice, I will contact the registrar 

Harlequeen69

So the registrar says that as they haven't had a response for over 10 years, the shares have gone back to the company and they have sold them.  Have I got any recourse now, does any one know?

wmb194

Harlequeen69 said:

So the registrar says that as they haven't had a response for over 10 years, the shares have gone back to the company and they have sold them.  Have I got any recourse now, does any one know?

Dividends can definitely be forfeited - after 12 years in NG's case, see link to its shareholder terms - but I cannot see that shares can be and I haven't heard of that. The complication here is that this relates to children: children cannot own shares directly in their own names, it needs to be via some sort of trust arrangement or they're actually owned by an adult and a child's name is just appended to the account name (Aberdeen did/does this with its Investment Trust children's share scheme).

https://www.nationalgrid.com/document/149706/download

https://unclaimedassets.co.uk/unclaimed-shares-and-dividends/

Is there something in the the letter that can be Googled e.g., 'National Grid children's share save scheme'? You'd be looking for the terms and conditions of that.

How much money are we talking about? This might also factor into the amount of effort you put into this.

Delburn

Harlequeen, this seems a most unfortunate situation.

It appears that in 2021 NG changed their articles of association to allow the shares of untraced shareholder, who had not cashed dividends for 12 years, to be sold and the proceeds forfeited.

See section 26 of the document uploaded on 14/8/2021 here:
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04031152/filing-history

Prior to 2021 the proceeds were held indefinitely, rather than being forfeited (document uploaded 8/8/2012).

You could check the exact process in these documents has been followed, particularly as you mention the sale was in 2020, rather than 2021.

This government consultation document suggests that some companies will make a goodwill payment in these circumstances:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/959098/Consultation_on_expanding_the_dormant_assets_scheme_V2.pdf

You could therefore trying writing/emailing National Grid investor relations, or the Company Secretary along these lines, explaining the circumstances that led to your father not responding.  The other option might be one of the newspaper personal finance columns who take on consumer and investor cases.

There might be various legal arguments against the forfeiture, but as wmb suggests, you would need to decide whether this was proportionate to the amount involved.