We acted as executors of an estate left to over 20 charities. The estate included multiple shareholdings not held in a portfolio, requiring us to check the validity of vast numbers of share certificates. The deceased gifted their property to a friend in the year before their death but the family cast doubt on their capacity to make the gift.
In our role as executors, we:
- extensively analysed paperwork and medical records to establish that the deceased had mental capacity at the time of making the gift
- established the gift was at an undervalue so obtained a valuation at date of gift
- transferred shares to the charitable beneficiaries and sold on their behalf (despite Covid-19 challenges we maximised the share price and achieved an £80,000 gain in one holding alone)
We kept the charities regularly updated and arranged several interim distributions by releasing shares and assets. This provided some financial help during lockdown.
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- Janet Harvey
- Senior Lawyer
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