Missing shares

msb1234

A friend of mine’s partner/companion died earlier this year. Probate has been granted. She was told about 4 years ago that he had left her shares in his will, and indeed it is in the will as a specific gift, naming the shares to be given to her solely. The residue of his estate is shared equally between grandchildren and one adult son. 

His children are executors of the estate. Although they are still in contact with my friend, whom they have known for 20+ years, they have not mentioned these shares. 

My query is, on her behalf, how can she check whether these shares were still held by him at his death without having to initially speak to the executors. Of course he could have sold them but as he was reasonably well off he wouldn’t have needed to do so for the money. He didn’t deal in shares and had held these for many years as he received them when he retired (he was it when he died)

Marcon

msb1234 said:

A friend of mine’s partner/companion died earlier this year. Probate has been granted. She was told about 4 years ago that he had left her shares in his will, and indeed it is in the will as a specific gift, naming the shares to be given to her solely. The residue of his estate is shared equally between grandchildren and one adult son. 

His children are executors of the estate. Although they are still in contact with my friend, whom they have known for 20+ years, they have not mentioned these shares. 

My query is, on her behalf, how can she check whether these shares were still held by him at his death without having to initially speak to the executors. Of course he could have sold them but as he was reasonably well off he wouldn’t have needed to do so for the money. He didn’t deal in shares and had held these for many years as he received them when he retired (he was it when he died)

Given she wasn't married, it's unlikely the registrars of the companies concerned would be willing to speak to her direct. They would expect (and she could reasonably expect) the executors of the will to handle matters in relation to these shares. She needs to ask the executors - it's their job to sort out the estate and if the shares were mentioned by name, it's a surprise they haven't dealt with these already.

sevenhills

Could the shares be in an online account and they haven't been traced?