Inherited shares

Sosem

My parents held shares from a few companies, after their death, the shares were administered by me as Exor.  My wife wishes to change the ownership of the shares into both our names.  Unfortunately, many of the actual share certificates are missing, and to reissue the certificates is costly.  Would it be preferable to keep the shares in their current state, as and when die, my wife will be the beneficiary and request new certificates at that time?  As the value of the shares is fairly small, I cannot see any advantage in purchasing new certificates now.  Your thoughts would be appreciated.

george4064

Best to get them transferred into electronic format, which will mean you are free to transfer them to an investment platform (like AJ Bell or Hargreaves Lansdown, other platform providers available).

Sosem

Thank you for your advice.  As I am a complete novice how does one get the shares transferred into a electronic format? Will I have to initially seek new paper copies prior to having them converted into an electronic format?
 

Reaper

Yes, you would pick a platform and send them the paper shares which they would convert to electronic. After that it gets much easier to buy/sell/transfer them. It is a pain and expensive to get replacement certificates but I don't see any advantage in putting it off until later.

Reaper

By the way joint ownership of shares is rare. I have never come across anyone who has done it. I have no idea how tax works on it (split I'd guess). I would suggest leaving them in one name. You can freely gift them to each other at any time without triggering capital gains tax. Maybe transfer half of them in your wife's name if it makes her feel more comfortable.

Linton

Sosem said:

My parents held shares from a few companies, after their death, the shares were administered by me as Exor.  My wife wishes to change the ownership of the shares into both our names.  Unfortunately, many of the actual share certificates are missing, and to reissue the certificates is costly.  Would it be preferable to keep the shares in their current state, as and when die, my wife will be the beneficiary and request new certificates at that time?  As the value of the shares is fairly small, I cannot see any advantage in purchasing new certificates now.  Your thoughts would be appreciated.

It appears paper share certificates are being abolished soon anyway with the information held digitally.