Old will/executor has since died

Hi, I will try to explain this clearly!

My gran-aunt died in 1990. She left the proceeds of her small estate to my sister and I. As we were minors my father dealt with the paperwork etc and sure enough we got the residue of her estate, that had been invested for us, when we turned 21. Note the executor died not long after my aunt and my father has since died too.

To cut a long story short - I decided to follow up on something I remember my father mentioning. He felt my aunt had a few shares that were not mentioned in the will/estate. I have looked into this with computershare. Indeed there are shares there that belonged to my aunt. I asked them what they needed in order for my sister and I to claim them if they are due to us. I was advised to send the death cert and grant of probate for my gran-aunt which I did. Long story short this is not enough. They now say I need the executors signature on a form. However as he is dead I now, apparently, need his executors signature on the form instead.

My question is - I don't know who the original executor was and certainly not who his executor would have been. I have been told to get a grant of probate for the original executor and then try and find his executor. As we are going back 18 years here it is very likely that A-the second executor is also dead or B-I won't be able to find him. Surely if we were due the residue of her estate we can arrange the transfer of the shares another less complicated / time consuming way?

Ideally I would rather not hire a solicitor as the shares aren't worth a huge amount as it is. (Any suggestions appreciated. Family cannot help as to the executor name etc etc).

Thank you.

It isn't clear from your post, but have you contacted the Probate Office?

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The name of the executor would be on the Grant of Probate as the grant would have issued to him (otherwise it wouldn't have been a Grant of Probate that issued).

If the shares are of low value then let Computershare know that this is the only asset left in the estate to be administered and it would not be cost effective to take out a De Bonis Non grant and that you are the beneficiaries. Worth a try at least.

Thanks, I realise the executor's names are on the grant of probate and I know the name of my gran aunts executor from reading her's. However I do not know who he was personally and I certainly won't know who the executor of his estate was-personally. My point was that even if I get the name of the second executor the chances of me finding them or they being alive are fairly slim after nearly 18 years. I had been hoping there was a more straightforward of doing this.

I spoke to the probate office and from talking to them it seems I can look for a DBN alright which I think I might do. However it can take a very long time and I am planning on emigrating in the next couple of months so time is not on my side. Another concern is that compushare were very unhelpful in telling me what I needed to do and they mentioned nothing about this DBN even when I asked them to double check that the executor route was the only way to go. I specifically asked could I not somehow administer this last outstanding bit of her estate seeing as the original executor was dead but he said no. To be honest every question I asked meant going on hold for five minutes and the entire conversation took an hour. Even though he was a manager he did not seem familiar with the process. I asked him what would the next step might be if I couldn't find the second executor and he said that in that case I would have to appoint a solicitor. Based on some other conversations I had with computershare I would have no confidence in their recommendations or knowledge. However without involving a solicitor I semm to be somewhat at their mercy.

This is quite complicated.

You say you don't want to go to a solicitor, you are hoping that Computershare will advise you, you are not happy with their views, you don't want to go to a solicitor but you want it resolved somehow.

I reckon you have three choices:

1. Write the whole thing off.
2. Research the whole area and work out what you need to do as regards your Grand Aunts estate to access the shares. A DBN does not take forever - you could easily do it within the next few months.
3. Employ a solicitor.

mf

It would appear from your original post that you would be entitled to take out a DBN Grant so it doesn't matter who the LPR of the executor is. As MF1 stated above a DBN grant can be taken out within a few months if you instructed a good solicitor. Ask the solicitor upfront re costs and then you can decide whether it is worth going ahead with.

Mf, I am well aware of my three choices thank you. I am trying to establish whether or not I should indeed write the whole thing off by doing research on the matter. One of the ways I am trying to do research is by posting to this forum. If I am wrong in posting to a forum when trying to research I apologise.

As I mentioned previously appointing a solicitor would eat in considerably to the value of the shares that are there.

It seems a little unfair that someone should have to go to the expense of a solicitor because a company's legal department had not heard of a route such as the DBN route (which seems to be a fairly common and well known route judging my research since I spoke to them yesterday). Surely other people have gone down that route before with Computershare? Also the fact that they can’t tell me what they require if the second executor is deceased or not contactable seems a little odd.

The main reason I was not happy with Computershare's views was because to date they have given me conflicting and inaccurate information about this matter. (One girl told me verbally last week the shares were being transferred to our names and a letter was on its way. I subsequently received a letter saying my "request was being processed" and that they were returning the death cert. & grant of probate to me. The letter said no more. This letter did not respond to any of the questions in my original letter to them, nor did it mention any transfer of shares. Hence a long phone call yesterday to try and find out what was actually happening, to which I was given a whole new set of information than what I was given on two previous occasions.) So forgive me if I feel a little frustrated with Computershare and feel I should do my own research into the matter rather than take their word for it.

As I mentioned previously - I did speak to the probate office and it could take the best part of six months, or a year if I appoint a solicitor to go down the DBN route. I am looking at going down this route anyway as it seems to be the only option. Unfortunately as I am planning on emigrating it is not ideal if I can't get a cancellation in the meantime. But I will have to deal with that when the time comes. It would have been useful to hear from someone who may have been in a similar situation and who went down either one of these routes. Or indeed a different route. That was all. If nobody has then I am quite happy with that.

Computershare will tell you what they need to transfer the shares i.e. a signature by the executor/administrator of the estate. It is not their place to legally advise you as to how you go about this. I wouldn't expect the person you were speaking to at Computershare would have a clue what a DBN grant is.

Again the Probate Office will tell you what's needed for a DBN grant but it is not up to them to prepare the application. They can only advise as to how long it takes for a Grant to issue after a correct application has been lodged. You have already been advised in previous posts by people who have experience of taking out a DBN grant that it can be done within six months.

How much are the shares worth?