Selling shares for winding up estate

rnem170

Hopefully the right forum for this question…

My brother (joint executor) has about £40k worth of shares in his name which need to sold and split between the beneficiaries. (we couldn't put them in a joint account due to my employer denying my rights to executing a will with respect to shares)

Three get just under £3k each.

Do share companies let you make withdrawls to different beneficiaries? I'm guessing if done to his account he would have to pay CGT first. If we withdrew £15k this tax year (to 5 beneficiaries) I'm guess we could do another £15k next?

Baldytyke88

My guess would be that it's entirely up to the executors as to when and how much is withdrawn; perhaps the money would go to the executors account first.

DRS1

Are you talking about an executor selling shares held as part of the estate? The CGT base cost will have been reset when the person whose estate it is died. So just how much capital gain would there be on a sale now?

If it is a sale in an estate then this page may help

Dealing with the estate of someone who's died: Managing and selling assets - GOV.UK

Or are you thinking of transferring shares to a beneficiary to settle a legacy under the will? Was the beneficiary left an amount of cash or an amount of shares?

Why are you thinking of doing £15k per annum?

When you talk about share companies what do you mean? An investment platform like Hargreaves Lansdown? Or a company like BP?

poseidon1

OP you raise a query directly related to your last post on 23 November 2025, wherein a detailed explanation of CGT in the context of deceased estate administration was given.

You were also provided with a link to the LITRG explanatory guide on all aspects of estate administration and tax compliance. Your question strongly suggest to me you did not read it. The link is provided ( yet again ) below -

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-nic/trusts-and-estates/bereavement-tax-issues-death/tax-income-and-gains-after-death

There is a limit on how much 'spoon feeding' a forum like this can give on some of the complex aspects of estate administration and taxation, resources like LITRG are there to pick up the slack.

Keep_pedalling

Why did he have them transferred to his name rather than sell and put the proceeds into the estate account?

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81921696#Comment_81921696

The OP explained that due to the terms of his own employment he was barred from being a joint holder of estate shareholdings as executor ( certain investment banks and financial service entities embed this veto in employee Ts andCs ), hence the brother had to register in sole name albeit still as executor rather than for himself beneficially.

To all intents and purposes this remains an estate shareholding, but an estate that no longer has any annual CGT exemption according to the OPs last post.

What could be done is an in specie transfer of shareholdings to the underlying beneficiaries who can go on to sell ( at their own leisure) and utilise their own cgt exemptions to avoid tax on their respective gains since date of death.

The OP should remember that in satisfying beneficiary entitlements under the will he is working with value of the shares at date of death and not their current market values.

Quite how these two executors are going to ultimately produce coherent estate accounts dealing with the distribution of estate capital and income as well as HMRC compliance, is anyone's guess.

rnem170

Thanks poseidon1. A specie transfer of the holding sound like the best way to go with this.

We are just about to wind up the estate accounts as this is the last thing to sort. I would agree, it has been a nightmare due to my companies policy - a policy which was not applicable for the first 9 years of my role I will add.

I fully appreciate all the help I have received.