How do I change name on share certificates

sjrobs

Dear all,

I'm after a bit of advice and i will apologise in advance if I have posted this on the wrong site.

Just over a month ago my father passed away, he was an extremely organised man so between myself and my mother, we have managed to sort out most of his affairs and put everything in order.

However, he owned shares in three seperate companies, and these are obviously in his name. When my mother contacted her solicitor to ask how to go about changing the name on the share certs, she was told that this would cost £330 (+ VAT) and that she would have to schedule a meeting to discuss things further (at a cost of £250 + Vat / hour).

Now, as the shares are only worth around £500 in total, this seems to be a bit excessive!

Is there any way of having the name changed without incurring this huge cost, my father left a simple will leaving everything to my mother.

I look forward to receiving any advice.

margaretclare

Hi

Wouldn't it be simpler to write to the companies concerned enclosing a copy of the will and a copy of your father's death certificate, just explaining that he has died and left everything - including his shares to your mother?

This can't be an unusual occurrence, I'd have thought?

Best wishes

Aunty Margaret

Somerset

I think you need a letter of probate too ie proving the estate has been legally settled. That along with a copy of the death cert , and possibly will too will need to be sent to the Registrar's of each company your father has shares in. You can find out who the Share Registrar's are either by calling the companies concerned, or doing a google search.
The documentation outlined above will prove the requested transfer is legally valid. The change of shareholder name may incur a small charge for their admin cost, something like £ 25 per holding. I seem to also recall they may want you to fill out a 'standard' form filling in the information for their records.

Short cut - call each Share Registrar, explain your situation, ask them to send you the form, and ask what evidence they need to do the transfer.

Your solicitor doesn't need to do any of this, it's money for old rope.

Condolences about your father.

Noozan

Sorry to hear about the death of your father.

I used to work in a Stockbrokers - you need a certified copy of the grant of probate (about 3 years ago, a certified copy of the original was about 60p so not sure how much it would cost now) together with a stock transfer from. The transfer forms can be obtained free from the Registrars. If you look at the bottom of the share certs, it usually says who the Registar is. The main 3 are Lloyds TSB, Computershare and Capita - just give them a ring and ask them to send it out to you.

The Executor needs to complete and sign the transfer forms and return to the Registrars together with the copies of probate and share certificates.

The cost of a few phone calls, copies of probate, envelopes and stamps will cost you no more than about £5. I should change professions and be a solicitor! :mad:

Fatboy_NSS

You only need probate if the total value of the estate is more than £15000. Best bet in the first instance is to call / write to the registrars explaining that the owner of the shares is deceased and what they would need you to do. Certainly no need to go through that rip off solicitor!

Noozan

Fatboy_NSS wrote:

You only need probate if the total value of the estate is more than £15000.

If the value of the estate does not warrant probate, you will need a "letter of administration" to chnage the names on certs.

Cymraeg_2

Just had to do this myself for my wife when her father passed away recently .

1. Contact the company the shares are held with .

2. They will send you a form to transfer the shares .

3. Complete and return form with all necessary certs/documents and the fee.
Lloyds Registras charged us £54 for a holding less than £1,000 . No fee if shares over that value.

4. Share Cert returned in my wife's name within about a fortnight .

We didn't bother with probate or solicitors for any of the estate .The only hiccup we encountered was that the Registras wanted to see our marriage cert. , so that was easily settled . We didn't need a letter of administration either . It can be a bit long and troublesome , but most companies are sympathetic and helpful . Just hope you haven't got to deal with Abbey (but that's another story )

She now wants to sell these . Any advice on going about this gratefully received .

memo_2

Hi there I wasn't sure if I should start a new thread for this but was wondering what the procedure to change names on share certificates say as a gift or likewise would be?

thanks

memo

Noozan

memo wrote:

Hi there I wasn't sure if I should start a new thread for this but was wondering what the procedure to change names on share certificates say as a gift or likewise would be?

thanks

memo

You can get a "stock transfer form" from your stockbroker, or phone thr registars and ask them to send one out to you. I think you can print one directly from some of the registars websites too. If it's a gift, no stamp duty is due. There's a list of options on the back of the form for you to choose from, just choose the one that says it's a gift and you are not receiving any money for the shares. (From memory, I think it was option B, but read the back of the form carefully!) Just need to send the form together with share certs to Registrars.

memo_2

Thanks a lot Noozan for clarifying this. I'll get onto it.

Memo