Sale & Transfer Services Resealing Grant of Probate Case Scenarios

Resealing Grants of Probate Case Scenarios

• Business Case 1 - DR. Pepper Snapple
• Business Case 2 - English Will with Dubai assets
• Business Case 3 - U.S.A. deceased with English assets
• Business Case 4 - English deceased with U.S. assets
• Business Case 5 - English deceased with Australian assets
• Business Case 6 - English deceased with Malaysian assets

Business Case 1 - DR. Pepper Snapple

When Cadburys spun off its Dr. Pepper and Snapple brands on 2008, it created a US Company and issued shares in that company to existing Cadbury shareholders. Usually, the English shareholders simply received a Direct Registration Statement from Computershare stating how many Dr. Pepper Snapple shares were owned by the English shareholder.

We have been helping numerous clients and solicitors firms in recovering these shareholdings and then either selling the shareholding and accounting to the solicitors for the net proceeds of sale, or we have been transferring such shares to the beneficiaries entitled to the same.

Sometimes we have even been receiving instructions directly from clients to sell their shareholdings, as in many case the shareholdings are relatively small (say less than 1,000 shares). As these shareholdings can be quite small, there is also the problem when a death occurs of uncashed dividends that have not been paid for several years. We have been able to recover those dividends for the deceased's estate.

It is therefore important to retain the original Direct Registration Statement (dated around 6 May 2008) as frequently this is the only evidence that the deceased owns any shares in Dr. Pepper Snapple.

Business Case 2 - English Will with Dubai assets

We are starting to get more enquiries for help in Dubai, and several case are still in the early stages, although clients should remember that whilst it is possible to have an English Will which deals with assets such as bank accounts in Dubai, Sharia law applies generally in Dubai with its compulsory inheritance laws (similar to Continental Europe). Sharia law in particular applies to real estate such as houses and flats.

Business Case 3 - U.S.A. deceased with English assets

In this case the deceased was a US citizen with English shareholdings. His Executor had been trying for two years to get help in selling the shares in various companies when he asked us for help.

We were able to arrange for the appointment of an English Executor to oversee the estate, for the English Grant of Probate to be issued, and for the Grant to be registered with the Registrars of each Company.

The sale of shares in one company was effected easily and the monies transferred to the U.S. beneficiary; the beneficiary wanted the shares in another company converted into ADRs (as he could then track the value of the shares easily and could arrange for the subsequent sale when he wanted to do so at some later date). We arranged and supervised the conversion of the shares into ADRs. As to another company, it had a stock split and demerger with the result that some new shares that were issued to the estate were now quoted in South Africa on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

The client thought the shares worthless and was about to simply abandon them, when we were able to obtain a valuation for the same, and subsequently sell them at a price which covered all of the costs of the whole process.

Business Case 4 - English deceased with U.S. assets

The deceased had shares in a publicly quoted company in the USA. The procedures in the USA vary widely from state to state and are not consistent. In addition there are considerable delays in obtaining replies from share registrars, and frequently wrong information is given. Also Medallion Guarantees are needed and documents are required to be certified by English courts within particular time periods. It is an exercise in delay and frustration and frequently tests the patience of the calmest of persons.

In addition, if the USA assets are worth more than US$60,000 then Form 706-NA has to be filed with the USA IRS within 9 months of the date of death even though in most cases the requirement to even file the form, let alone the time period, is not known to the deceased's estate until long after the English estate has been nearly completely settled. Fines can be imposed for delay in filing the Form. The US IRS will take (by their own admission) between 6 - 18 months to issue the needed Federal Transfer Certificate before any assets in the USA can be sold or transferred.

In addition, Form W8-BEN confirming that the Executors are non-resident for US tax purposes will usually have to be filed with the company concerned. This has to be renewed every 3 years.

The result was that after a period of nearly 2 years we were able to have the US assets transferred into the names of the Executors and then subsequently the shares were sold and the proceeds accounted for to the estate.

Business Case 5 - English deceased with Australian assets

In this case the deceased owned shares in companies which were registered in different States in Australia. We were able to confirm the shareholdings, and then instruct a local lawyer to Reseal the English Grant of Probate, register the Resealed Grant with the various companies (so saving separate Resealing in each State which would have been extremely expensive) and subsequently we were able to have the shares sold and the proceeds accounted for the estate. The whole process took about 5 months.

Business Case 6 - English deceased with Malaysian assets

The deceased owned shares in several Malaysian companies. First it was necessary to ascertain ownership of the shares, which in the absence of a statement from Bursa Malaysia or the original share certificates proved difficult. We nevertheless were able to instruct local solicitors to apply for a Reseal of the English Grant and obtain the Reseal based upon undertakings to the Court to provide confirmation of shareholdings once the Grant had been Resealed and the information obtained. We were successful in this approach, registered the resealed Grant and eventually were able to arrange for the shares to be sold and the proceeds accounted for to the estate.

More recently we have now been successful in recovering shares in several Malaysian companies although it took several months and a lot of patience to finally sort out the red tape, and have the monies transferred to the beneficiaries. Many of these problems are what might be called banking, and Anti-Money Laundering problems, and so please be prepared for a long wait before matters can be completed.