Probate sale of American shares
Discussion
Here's a hypothetical scenario:
Fred is acting as executor for a deceased relative, and has been granted probate. Both Fred and the deceased are/were UK nationals and live(d) in the UK. The relative used to work for a large American multinational company, and held employee shares which are now worth a considerable amount of money - let's say around $50,000.
Fred would obviously like to sell the shares and distribute the proceeds according to the will, but his initial research suggests that the process looks daunting because he is not a US citizen. Transferring the shares into his own name seems quite a ball-ache, and seems to involve jumping through some administrative hoops that may be difficult or impossible for a UK citizen to negotiate.
To make things easier, Fred is considering logging onto the website of the share registrar and registering an online account in the deceased relative's name, in the hope that it will provide a painless way of selling the shares without having to transfer them to another name. Fred believes he has enough personal information about the deceased relative to be able to do this, and is 90% sure that the deceased relative probably hasn't already done so. Fred is hoping that the registrar's dealing services can send the proceeds to a UK bank account.
But Fred is worried that doing so might be fraudulent, even though he has the legal authority as executor and grantee of probate to sell the shares, which is his ultimate aim. The end result would be perfectly legitimate, but the method might not be.
So the question is: Would Fred be in legal hot water if he were to register an online account in the deceased's name, using their personal information, effectively posing as the deceased? And could he end up in serious trouble if he were to use that account to sell the shares, sending the proceeds to the executor account and then distributing the money according to the will?
Alternatively, does anyone have any advice to offer Fred about how to go about doing this?
Fred is acting as executor for a deceased relative, and has been granted probate. Both Fred and the deceased are/were UK nationals and live(d) in the UK. The relative used to work for a large American multinational company, and held employee shares which are now worth a considerable amount of money - let's say around $50,000.
Fred would obviously like to sell the shares and distribute the proceeds according to the will, but his initial research suggests that the process looks daunting because he is not a US citizen. Transferring the shares into his own name seems quite a ball-ache, and seems to involve jumping through some administrative hoops that may be difficult or impossible for a UK citizen to negotiate.
To make things easier, Fred is considering logging onto the website of the share registrar and registering an online account in the deceased relative's name, in the hope that it will provide a painless way of selling the shares without having to transfer them to another name. Fred believes he has enough personal information about the deceased relative to be able to do this, and is 90% sure that the deceased relative probably hasn't already done so. Fred is hoping that the registrar's dealing services can send the proceeds to a UK bank account.
But Fred is worried that doing so might be fraudulent, even though he has the legal authority as executor and grantee of probate to sell the shares, which is his ultimate aim. The end result would be perfectly legitimate, but the method might not be.
So the question is: Would Fred be in legal hot water if he were to register an online account in the deceased's name, using their personal information, effectively posing as the deceased? And could he end up in serious trouble if he were to use that account to sell the shares, sending the proceeds to the executor account and then distributing the money according to the will?
Alternatively, does anyone have any advice to offer Fred about how to go about doing this?
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