Probate granted seven years ago

Curious66

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Good morning. I'm a beneficiary of a will and despite probate being granted seven years ago the executor has still not distributed the funds. I have made contact several times with the executor and have been told that, because the shares left in the will have decreased in value, the executor will not sell. Please does anyone have any advice on how I can move forward with this? There is no solicitor involved. Thanks.
 
IANAL

Few more questions then.

1. What has happened to the dividends over the last 7 years?

2. Are you the sole beneficiary?
 
Thinking out of the box here but could you ask the executor for the shares and you can decide yourself whether to cash or hold them. Obviously if the value of the shares need to be split between several beneficiaries then that is an issue.

It sounds like the poor executor thought that they just had to wait for the share price to go back up to realise the best value for the beneficiaries but that has not happened and after 7 years they should throw in the towel and sell. You need to say to them €10K in my hand is more valuable now than €20K sometime in the future so show me the money.
 
Simpler solution - just transfer them & let the beneficiary decide what to do.

They should already be transferred to the name of The estate of the late J Smith, if exec has grant of probate they can simply direct to be transferred again to K Smith.

IANAL
 
I have made contact several times with the executor and have been told that, because the shares left in the will have decreased in value, the executor will not sell.

This sounds fishy to me.

The Executor is effectively making investment decisions on behalf of the beneficiaries.

I think you should ask a solicitor to write to the Executor.

Brendan
 
Do you know how much the shares are worth now and what you would get. if its not worth much, you might as well walk away.
 
Sorry for the late response DannyBoyD. I was not able to reply straight away for some reason.

The company who the shares are with did pay dividends, and we were given payment. But I think they have frozen payments now due to the reluctance of the executor selling to them at the price they offered.

I am not the sole beneficiary. The executor and two others are also beneficiaries.

Thank you.
 
Sorry for the late response DannyBoyD. I was not able to reply straight away for some reason.
FYI, new users can only post after a delay.
 
they have frozen payments now due to the reluctance of the executor selling to them at the price they offered.
I've never heard of that before!

If you are on good terms with the exec, ask them to split the shares among the beneficiaries & then you can each decide what you want to do, and exec is off the hook & no longer has to worry about it.

If exec gets stroppy, then escalate - but try the simple way first.
 
Are these quoted shares, listed on a stock exchange somewhere, or are we talking about shares in a privately-held company?
 
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