Finding share holdings of deceased relative
Finding share holdings of deceased relative
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gmaz

Original Poster:

4,970 posts

228 months

Thursday 2nd January
quotequote all
My wife's uncle died recently and we heard he had shares in various companies going back 40 years. Unfortunately there was a fire at his house some years ago, so some paperwork may have been lost. Is there any way to search for shareholdings across all companies? We tried the gretel and mylostaccount sites but that seems to want to know company names to check. Would he get annual statements etc for any companies he had shares in?

LeoSayer

7,595 posts

262 months

Thursday 2nd January
quotequote all
You could try contacting the main share registrars in the UK, assuming these are only UK companies.

I'm aware of Equiniti and Computershare but there are others.

Rough101

2,802 posts

93 months

Thursday 2nd January
quotequote all
In my experience, unless he was on line, there are annual statements, try the free service at Setld,

Also in the UK, a lot of shareholding’s are managed by EQ (Equiniti) including the banks, Centrica, BT etc., so contact them, you will need to jump through a load of hoops though and pay them if you want them released, maybe even probate.

C69

932 posts

30 months

Thursday 2nd January
quotequote all
As already suggested, I'd try contacting the main registrars. It's very possible that the companies have been taken over, disappeared, changed names etc in the intervening decades.

Your relative should've received an annual summary of any dividends received for his tax records. However, as with dividend payments, they might've been purely electronic with no paper trail.

If you've got access to his bank statements, you could trawl through them for any evidence of dividends. However, in my experience, the transaction description for such payments can be rather cryptic.

Unfortunately, none of the above is going to be of any use if the companies were private or unlisted.

Marcellus

7,192 posts

237 months

Thursday 2nd January
quotequote all
His bank statements might give a clue as to where to start looking as probably there’ll be dividend payments in.

gmaz

Original Poster:

4,970 posts

228 months

Thursday 2nd January
quotequote all
Thanks for the advice. Am I right in thinking that some shares don't pay dividends, so there would not be evidence of payments on the bank statements?

C69

932 posts

30 months

Thursday 2nd January
quotequote all
gmaz said:
Thanks for the advice. Am I right in thinking that some shares don't pay dividends, so there would not be evidence of payments on the bank statements?
Correct, some might pay dividends sporadically or not at all. However, most large listed UK companies will generally pay them on a regular basis.

Simpo Two

89,903 posts

283 months

Thursday 2nd January
quotequote all
C69 said:
Correct, some might pay dividends sporadically or not at all. However, most large listed UK companies will generally pay them on a regular basis.
I usually set mine to reinvest - they don't appear on bank statements.

The process of having everything online and no paper is going to cause no end of problems in the future.

Perhaps I should invest in orphan funds!

gmaz

Original Poster:

4,970 posts

228 months

Friday 3rd January
quotequote all
Rough101 said:
In my experience, unless he was on line, there are annual statements, try the free service at Setld,

Also in the UK, a lot of shareholding’s are managed by EQ (Equiniti) including the banks, Centrica, BT etc., so contact them, you will need to jump through a load of hoops though and pay them if you want them released, maybe even probate.
What is Setld ? I've tried google and can't see anything relevant.

LeoSayer

7,595 posts

262 months

Friday 3rd January
quotequote all
gmaz said:
Rough101 said:
In my experience, unless he was on line, there are annual statements, try the free service at Setld,

Also in the UK, a lot of shareholding’s are managed by EQ (Equiniti) including the banks, Centrica, BT etc., so contact them, you will need to jump through a load of hoops though and pay them if you want them released, maybe even probate.
What is Setld ? I've tried google and can't see anything relevant.
https://www.settld.care/

Rough101

2,802 posts

93 months

Friday 3rd January
quotequote all
LeoSayer said:
Yes, sorry, I missed a T!

Jon39

14,044 posts

161 months

Saturday 4th January
quotequote all

Simpo Two said:
I usually set mine to reinvest - they don't appear on bank statements.

The process of having everything online and no paper is going to cause no end of problems in the future.

Perhaps I should invest in orphan funds!

You are following theoretically the best investment way.
Keep money in a good business, don't do withdrawals.

I rarely do dividend reinvestment though, simply because every reinvestment constitutes a new additional purchase.
I cannot be bothered with the associated record keeping.
(When within an ISA, then not applicable.)

An HMRC requirement, but perhaps many shareholders just ignore.





Jon39

14,044 posts

161 months

Saturday 4th January
quotequote all
gmaz said:
Thanks for the advice. Am I right in thinking that some shares don't pay dividends, so there would not be evidence of payments on the bank statements?

Quite right.

Wonder if you might discover a holding in Berkshire Hathaway Inc.?
They have only ever paid dividends on one occasion. A silly mistake says the Chairman.
A holding could be worth millions.


The Gauge

5,505 posts

31 months

Friday 3rd October
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Is there a way of getting a search done on an individual shareholders name to reveal any shares?

I'm sorting my late mothers affairs and about to start probate and IHT payment. Mums tax code has been altered due to reflect receiving dividends but we have no paperwork for any shares.

Dad (also dead) used to work for and have shares with for Yorkshire Water (Kelda) and we think those shares were cashed in, possibly purchase of Halifax shares but not entirely sure.

Computershare require a name of the share company to do a search, but we don't know who any shares were with.

Edited by The Gauge on Friday 3rd October 14:26