Selling foreign shares

littleredhen

My friend is the executor of a will and there are some foreign shares involved.  Probate has been granted but the solicitor cannot deal with the foreign shares - when I looked up selling foreign shares it just says you have to do it through a broker - any advice or is it just a case of going online etc 

DRS1

There are foreign shares and foreign shares.

If they are shares in a quoted company (like Amazon) then yes go online though they are probably held online already.  You might get more helpful answers if you named the company (and their country) as some countries can be more difficult to find a broker for than others.

If they are shares in a private unquoted company then that will be more difficult and your friend should approach the company direct to see what is possible.

If they are shares in a Railway Company from Tsarist Russia then your friend would probably be better off getting the certificate framed.
 

littleredhen

thanks - the premuims have been coming in in cheques so not sure anything is online as the person was elderly but they are known Companies like Mondelez and Cadbury Schweppes - I think there might be two others

Nearlyold

The Solicitor for my mums estate has managed to deal with some of my mother's foreign shares.in the 4 years since she passed. Some were straightforward  others are still in progress, U.S. and South Africa holdings seem to present the most issues re the admin. They'll reject paperwork saying you need to do X so you do X then the paperwork comes back saying you need to do Y so you do Y then the paperwork comes back saying you need to do X not Y. We've recently traced some more South Africa holdings so we're not done yet. A heir hunter firm in SA have also contacted us and are saying the assets they've traced are not the ones we've already found. So the "fun" continues.

Rollinghome

Cadbury were taken over by Kraft about 15 years ago and are now a subsidiary of Mondelez.  Shouldn't be any trouble selling them, currently at $57.65.   Any on-line broker should be fine, just watch for currency exchange fees. The company Cadbury Schweppes no longer exists.

If the shares are held by through a registrar, such as Computershare or Equinity, they will be able to advise on their selling procedure and fees. https://www.mondelezinternational.com/investors/ir-contacts/

wmb194

littleredhen said:

thanks - the premuims have been coming in in cheques so not sure anything is online as the person was elderly but they are known Companies like Mondelez and Cadbury Schweppes - I think there might be two others

You mean dividends? Cadbury Schweppes hasn't existed in a long time so that cannot be right, that's probably a defunct certificate that should have been binned. 

To sell US and Canadian certificated shares you need a broker with a "medallion stamp" and these are rare but in similar threads people have reported that Redmayne Bentley can do it.

https://www.redmayne.co.uk/

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6568971/need-help-on-selling-canadian-shares/p4

littleredhen

yes they could be dividends - I don't have all the info yet I'm just looking on the internet for info so I will need to get hold of the paperwork to help him further

littleredhen

ok actually just read the op and they are Craft - I couldn't remember who Cadbury had been taken over by but as I said can't remember the names of all of them - I will look for an online broker

wmb194

littleredhen said:

ok actually just read the op and they are Craft - I couldn't remember who Cadbury had been taken over by

*Kraft. Just Kraft or Kraft Heinz? It's important to be accurate because over the years there's been a lot of M&A... Kraft Heinz is currently planning to split this year into two separate entities so if it's left very much longer there'll be new certificates coming.

littleredhen

thanks think it is Kraft Heinz - the person was very up to date with everything and everything is in good order with certificates etc but it was just really how to go about the process because the solicitor said they can't deal with them for my friend 

DRS1

Ages ago I had shares in Cadbury plc.  It looks like I sold them rather than go through the takeover.

What I do have left over from that is shares in Dr Pepper (now Keurig Dr Pepper NPV).  So that might be one of the others.  It is quoted on NASDAQ so should be easy to sell

With US shares there is a form that needs to be filled in to make sure you don't suffer higher withholding tax on dividends (W8-BEN).  I am not sure if that applies to executors