How long should I have to wait to receive my inheritance?

pjs493

If it’s registered as a limited company you can access the summary accounts on the Companies House website for free. That will give you an idea of how much money there is in the company and if any dividends have been paid to shareholders recently. As a limited company they have an annual requirement to submit accounts. Much can be gleaned from the published information and you may be able to contact the company director directly and get their side of the story to see just how much effort the executor has made in selling the shares to other shareholders and how realistic their expectations were/are. 

Malthusian

doodling said:

If the shares represent a significant holding in the company then might be possible to increase the value of the shares by the executor involving himself in the business (e.g. at shareholder meetings) to the point that the other owners get sufficiently fed up that they are willing to pay an acceptable price.  Whether that is a viable approach will depend on the circumstances.

A minority shareholding will not give the executor any ability to involve themselves in the day-to-day running of the business; that is the job of the Directors and they would need a majority of voting shares to change the Directors.

As the obvious potential buyers for the shares are the other shareholders, the executor should be trying to keep them onside.

Private sales like this can take a very long time; with probate granted in 2018, maybe the executor could have sold the shares before 2020 but it would have been the most almighty stroke of luck. Even if there was an offer on the table before 2020, it might have taken long enough to raise the money, do the legal work, etc that lockdown might have hit before the sale was completed.