Share certificates and addresses

ijholdie

Firstly, apologies if I have posted this on the wrong thread, but its my first post here, so be gentle!

My Dad recently passed away, and whilst trying to sort out his estate, I have come across some shares which I had forgotten about. The shares are still registered at my Dad's address. The shares are in SSE, Santander and BT. I have the shareholder reference numbers etc for all of the shares and for SSE and BT, I have paper share certificates (they are quite old!). I have started to contact the share registrars/administrators (SSE - Computershare, Santander and BT - Equiniti I think) in order to inform them that my address has changed. So far I have only got around to telling Compuetrshare about the change of address for my SSE shares. 

I don't know alot about shares - and my question is this: Although the registrar knows that my address has changed, my original paper share certificates still have my Dad's address printed on them. Does this matter? And do I even need the paper certificates any more (eg. if I sold the shares, can I just do this through the registrar, or will they ask for the paper certificates)?

eskbanker

Firstly, sorry for your loss.

No issue with addresses changing, people move all the time, and certificates aren't reprinted for that.

You can sell through registrars but it's usually expensive to do so, so it would probably be more cost-effective to transfer the shares to a low-cost broker like X-O first:

https://www.x-o.co.uk/how-to.html#transfer-certs

wmb194

ijholdie said:

Firstly, apologies if I have posted this on the wrong thread, but its my first post here, so be gentle!

My Dad recently passed away, and whilst trying to sort out his estate, I have come across some shares which I had forgotten about. The shares are still registered at my Dad's address. The shares are in SSE, Santander and BT. I have the shareholder reference numbers etc for all of the shares and for SSE and BT, I have paper share certificates (they are quite old!). I have started to contact the share registrars/administrators (SSE - Computershare, Santander and BT - Equiniti I think) in order to inform them that my address has changed. So far I have only got around to telling Compuetrshare about the change of address for my SSE shares. 

I don't know alot about shares - and my question is this: Although the registrar knows that my address has changed, my original paper share certificates still have my Dad's address printed on them. Does this matter? And do I even need the paper certificates any more (eg. if I sold the shares, can I just do this through the registrar, or will they ask for the paper certificates)?

Assuming you're the inheritor, you need to have them transferred into your name. Did that not come up with Computershare or does it think your Dad has changed address? When in your name I'd presume new certificates will be issued but yes, until they've been 'dematerialised' you need to keep them, they're important. If you don't the registrar will charge an annoyingly large amount to have them replaced when you try to sell them.

When this has been sorted out if I were you I'd open an account with a broker like iWeb - ultimately owned by Lloyds Bank - and lodge i.e. dematerialise the certificates with it. iWeb doesn't charge any ongoing account fees and £5 commission per trade. It usually has a £100 account opening fee but this is being waived until end of December. Life is a lot easier when you don't have to deal with paper certificates.

https://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/

eskbanker

wmb194 said:

Assuming you're the inheritor, you need to have them transferred into your name. Did that not come up with Computershare or does it think your Dad has changed address?

That was the way I read things at first, but think that OP means that they've always been his/her shares, rather than dad's, but just happened to have been bought while still living there, hence the certificates still physically being there.

wmb194

eskbanker said:

wmb194 said:

Assuming you're the inheritor, you need to have them transferred into your name. Did that not come up with Computershare or does it think your Dad has changed address?

That was the way I read things at first, but think that OP means that they've always been his/her shares, rather than dad's, but just happened to have been bought while still living there, hence the certificates still physically being there.

Ah, yes! I'm so used to these threads being about inheritances. Particularly when they pay dividends, like the companies mentioned, I also always find it strange that people forget they own these things.

ijholdie

Apologies, I should have made it clear that I am the owner of the shares (not my Dad), I just never got around to updating the address (a leftover from when I used to live with my parents).

However, watch this space, as my late father also owned shares in his name, and I am picking my way through this. I have not gone through probate yet for my late father's estate, but when I do, I am sure I will have a whole bunch more questions about how on earth I go about transferring his shares into my name!

ijholdie

Many Thanks for your help and responses.

So just to confirm, for the shares I own, I will need the original share certificates in order to sell them, and also it doesn't matter that the address on the paper share certificates is different to my current address (I have updated my address with the share administrator, but the addrees printed on the original paper cert will be different).

wmb194

ijholdie said:

Many Thanks for your help and responses.

So just to confirm, for the shares I own, I will need the original share certificates in order to sell them, and also it doesn't matter that the address on the paper share certificates is different to my current address (I have updated my address with the share administrator, but the addrees printed on the original paper cert will be different).

Correct, and keep them somewhere safe but where you won't forget about them. If you move house make sure to update the registrar. If you don't then worst case they could be forfeited back to the company.