Cash settlement being held for shares that were owned by deceased relative

LaurenTsV

Hello,
   My mother passed away some time ago, but I received a letter to collect a cash settlement of some shares she owned, from the LINK GROUP. I have a few questions to anyone who would have experience in these matters. Thanks for any helpful suggestions in advance.
1/ Does anybody have any experience or knowledge of the LINK GROUP and their reputation and legitimacy in such dealings?
2/ How hard would it be for me to get probate now 17 years after my mother's death? As there is a significant charge to cash out for this by the LINK GROUP if I can only produce a death certificate.
3/I found a slip of paper, showing that the amount of shares my mother bought for this company were 2000 and yet the cash settlement is for 131 shares. Providing she had not sold any, is there anywhere I can check whether there should be a larger share settlement for her prior holdings other than chasing up the company itself, and also to investigate other receipts I found for her purchase of other shares in other companies?

Thank you

wmb194

LaurenTsV said:

Hello,
   My mother passed away some time ago, but I received a letter to collect a cash settlement of some shares she owned, from the LINK GROUP. I have a few questions to anyone who would have experience in these matters. Thanks for any helpful suggestions in advance.
1/ Does anybody have any experience or knowledge of the LINK GROUP and their reputation and legitimacy in such dealings?
2/ How hard would it be for me to get probate now 17 years after my mother's death? As there is a significant charge to cash out for this by the LINK GROUP if I can only produce a death certificate.
3/I found a slip of paper, showing that the amount of shares my mother bought for this company were 2000 and yet the cash settlement is for 131 shares. Providing she had not sold any, is there anywhere I can check whether there should be a larger share settlement for her prior holdings other than chasing up the company itself, and also to investigate other receipts I found for her purchase of other shares in other companies?

Thank you

1. Link is a share registrar and is legitimate. Registrars are known for wanting to charge large fees, though.

https://www.linkgroup.eu/services/services/share-registration/?

2. I don't know.

3. Tell us which company and we might be able to figure it out. It's probably to do with a share consolidation(s). Google will find a lot of the data but the difficulty increases the farther back in time you have to go and if there have been mergers and acquisitions.

eskbanker

Link is a well-known legitimate share registrar, what shares are they?

happybagger

LaurenTsV said:

2/ How hard would it be for me to get probate now 17 years after my mother's death? As there is a significant charge to cash out for this by the LINK GROUP if I can only produce a death certificate.

Do they require grant of probate, or have they just requested the death certificate?

xylophone

also to investigate other receipts I found for her purchase of other shares in other companies?

Check the registrar for each share.

Example -  BT's Registrar is Equiniti.

https://www.bt.com/about/investors/individual-shareholders/shareholder-administration#:~:text=As BT's Registrar, Equiniti manages,to buying and selling shares.

LaurenTsV

Appreciate the replies:
They said they would take either probate or the death certificate but there would be a charge for the latter.
Shares were within dragon oil and quite a sizeable amount.
Looking through the files there were also some shares in Eurotunnel, but I'm not sure of their status.

wmb194

LaurenTsV said:

Appreciate the replies:
They said they would take either probate or the death certificate but there would be a charge for the latter.
Shares were within dragon oil and quite a sizeable amount.
Looking through the files there were also some shares in Eurotunnel, but I'm not sure of their status.

Dragon Oil was bought by ENOC in 2015 for 800p per share. It definitely had some rights issues and made other changes - see last comment in link - but it's a challenge to research.

bowlhead99: "...At the moment the Dragon shares you see on the stock market have nominal value of ten euro cents each. So there must have been some fiddly changes. If you can't work it or from the Dragon website investors section, contact the registrar for the company and ask how many of the current shares your 1p shares now represent."

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5205840/penny-share-certificate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Oil

Eurotunnel plc became TNU plc which was then bought by Groupe Eurotunnel SE: "Then Groupe Eurotunnel made an offer for TNU plc and shareholders had the option of receiving one new share in Groupe Eurotunnel for every 394 shares held in TNU plc. Under the terms of this deal shareholdings were sold automatically if they were smaller than 394 shares or if Computershare, the registrar at the time, did not receive a valid election from the shareholder by Oct 20 2010." 

Groupe Eurotunnel is now called Getlink and is listed in Paris. It had issues in 2007 and there was an equity dilution.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/jessica-investigates/have-eurotunnel-shares-gone/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getlink