Private share ownership search ?
Discussion
One for the legal eagles I think...
I have a friend who's uncle has just passed away and they have been left in charge of tidying up his affairs and estate.
They know he held quite a few shares, but have no records of what or how many?
Is there a service or register that you can see if this person held any shares?
I have a friend who's uncle has just passed away and they have been left in charge of tidying up his affairs and estate.
They know he held quite a few shares, but have no records of what or how many?
Is there a service or register that you can see if this person held any shares?
Edited by Shadytree on Tuesday 5th August 09:18
I am an accountant/ IP, not a legal bod but a few thoughts that might help.
If he had a number of separate shares, it is likely that he would use an accountant to prepare his tax return. Hopefully a copy could be obtained and would include details of all dividends received. Admittedly this would not pick up isolated shares in private companies that have not declared dividends for some time, but the accountant may have kept full details anyway. A copy of the letter of representation/ probate should be enough to get hold of whatever information they are holding.
IIRC there are not a large number of registrars that hold share information, Lloyds Registrars comes to mind but there may be others. They might offer a search service as this can hardly be a rare situation.
If no other joy, use the letter of representation/ probate to get bank statements going back for a couple of years (not sure if they would charge though) and look to see what was paid in (could be in for a lot of digging here though).
If he is likely to only have had shares in companies that he was a director of at some time, a director search at Companies House will produce a list and will include resigned directorships. Then just look at the Annual Return and see who holds the shares.
Happy hunting
If he had a number of separate shares, it is likely that he would use an accountant to prepare his tax return. Hopefully a copy could be obtained and would include details of all dividends received. Admittedly this would not pick up isolated shares in private companies that have not declared dividends for some time, but the accountant may have kept full details anyway. A copy of the letter of representation/ probate should be enough to get hold of whatever information they are holding.
IIRC there are not a large number of registrars that hold share information, Lloyds Registrars comes to mind but there may be others. They might offer a search service as this can hardly be a rare situation.
If no other joy, use the letter of representation/ probate to get bank statements going back for a couple of years (not sure if they would charge though) and look to see what was paid in (could be in for a lot of digging here though).
If he is likely to only have had shares in companies that he was a director of at some time, a director search at Companies House will produce a list and will include resigned directorships. Then just look at the Annual Return and see who holds the shares.
Happy hunting
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