St Jamess Place is it worth putting in a complaint to try and get things clarified

Crater

Long story short, for over 20 years my late MIL had a SJP trust which was intended to provide some money for my husband at her death, outside probate.

The original "partner" retired long ago and the account was passed to another "partner" - we don't know on what basis. On the whole this wasn't a problem, but they were not specialists and with some rule changes we became a bad fit for each other and we took their advice to work directly with SJP last autumn, which the SJP helpline told us was fine. (Since then we haven't even had a valuation.)

Now that my MIL has passed away, we are being told that we "must have two trustees" on the account (Note: there is no property involved, so AFAIK there is no legal need to appoint another trustee). To appoint another trustee we "must" have an SJP partner, as only partners are allowed to deal with the "Tax trust and technical" department. They can't point at anyone with expertise, but apparently this shouldn't matter, as all Partners are required to consult the TT&T department if the client needs any help. (So far it seems that all that is needed is a "Deed of Assignment" form, but it took two converations to find that out.) (And as said, it looks as if a second trustee should not be needed at all.)

The Helpline has tried very hard to be helpful. It emerges that MAYBE a solicitor can consult the SJP Tax Trust and Technical department. We aren't even sure about that, but that of course would require us to get a solicitor.  We simply want to realise the account.

My real question is: does anyone have any experience of raising a complaint with SJP? And if so, is likely to speed things up, or just mire things down even further?

Our letter reporting my MIL's death contained a lot of detail, which has been largely ignored in the response letter.

thanks for any insights.

Keep_pedalling

Is there any reason why the trust can’t now simply be would up and the resulting cash paid to your husband. 

Crater

According to Them, they need another Trustee (but the legal information I have seen says there does not need to be two trustees.). I found after clambering through a great deal of paperwork that they DID tell us to Register the trust in 2022 - (there are signs that it is a kind of trust that does not normally need Registering - but I'm not knowledgeable enough to know that.) And also found out that SJP recommends two Trustees - ongoing, I understand that, but it appears not to be mandatory even within SJP, and under the present circumstances it seems excessive.  Basically it's clear that by relying on the Helplines, we are being told things by genuinely well intended support agents, but never the whole picture. And we are not allowed to go directly to the department which actually knows things, apparently even to get basic forms.

LadyWithAPlan

SJP charge truly terrible fees and also take large intro fees as a % of any investing and have a 6 years after you added money in early withdrawal charge. I am helping a friend who has lost loads to  SJP this way, its a nightmare.
Whatever you do get away from them asap. Maybe hire a singular fee based IFA for advice (not on a % of the funds) 
SJP do have a complaint form on their website as they have had to put aside over £450 million for client charges in spring 2024  - after the FCA have done their investigation  into their fee structures- I would start there.