Transfer of Shares - Deceased Estate

I hope you can help. I am Executor of my deceased mother's estate and her shares need to be distributed and she held her shares with a broker who is wanting to charge $85 per transfer if transferred to a chess sponsored account with them. A total of $2040 in fees. Or the other option is to issuer sponsored holdings $3120 in fees. There are three beneficiaries including myself- all getting equal shares. The preferred option is to have issuer sponsored holdings. We each want to put the shares in our Testamentary trust.
I think this is exorbitant and I would like to do it myself, if possible. Can I do it myself? If so how would I go about it?

Cynbaz2 said:

I hope you can help. I am Executor of my deceased mother's estate and her shares need to be distributed and she held her shares with a broker who is wanting to charge $85 per transfer if transferred to a chess sponsored account with them. A total of $2040 in fees. Or the other option is to issuer sponsored holdings $3120 in fees. There are three beneficiaries including myself- all getting equal shares. The preferred option is to have issuer sponsored holdings. We each want to put the shares in our Testamentary trust.
I think this is exorbitant and I would like to do it myself, if possible. Can I do it myself? If so how would I go about it?

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I would ask around, try to find another Broker. That is assuming of course that you as Executor are allowed to transfer shares to another Broker.
A few years ago, I had to transfer a CHESS-sponsored portfolio from one broker to another. In that case, I was a Trustee, not an Executor. As I could create the new account with the same name, the new Broker (OpenMarkets) organised the transfer totally free of charge. Had the account names differed, some additional paperwork would have applied, costing a nominal amount: from memory about $50.

Were I in your position, I would ask my personal rep for advice and an obligation-free quote:
Virginia Owczarek
Designated Trading Representative
P +61 3 8199 7704
vowczarek@openmarkets.com.au

Ditch the broker.

Go to the share registry site for your individual shares, link, computershare etc. This is THE best place to start.
ie

https://www.linkmarketservices.com.au/corporate/InvestorServices/Forms.html

They have all the forms, but more importantly FREE help.
This is a PITA excersize, but if you do it yourself it's free.

The shares can sit there in the registry forever and you can even sell them directly out of the registries, although it's cheaper to do it through a discount broker.

The bigger question is you said you want to put them in the trust. I'm not quite sure you have a choice, it's either in the will or it's not, it was the deceased decision. Check with the lawyer that set up the trusts first.

pixel said:

I would ask around, try to find another Broker. That is assuming of course that you as Executor are allowed to transfer shares to another Broker.
A few years ago, I had to transfer a CHESS-sponsored portfolio from one broker to another. In that case, I was a Trustee, not an Executor. As I could create the new account with the same name, the new Broker (OpenMarkets) organised the transfer totally free of charge. Had the account names differed, some additional paperwork would have applied, costing a nominal amount: from memory about $50.

Were I in your position, I would ask my personal rep for advice and an obligation-free quote:
Virginia Owczarek
Designated Trading Representative
P +61 3 8199 7704
vowczarek@openmarkets.com.au

Click to expand...

Yours was a completely different scenario. A transfer of CHESS holdings from one broker to another is not the same as a transmission to an executor or transfer to a beneficiary, and I've never heard of it involving a fee.

Dave has the right idea, move them from the broker back to issuer sponsored then DIY the transfer. I agree with him about the testmentary trust. It is created through the will of the deceased, so it exists and the executor is bound by the will to transfer the shares into the trust/s or it doesn't exist. Either way, the choice is not the beneficiaries.

Hi All, Thanks for your responses. We each have a testamentary trust as determined by our mother and we have the option to put the shares in. The Will allows for this. We all want to have the trust hold our shares. It looks like I am going to have to get the Broker to move the shares retaining my mothers name before I can then move into each of our names. $1,040 in fees. I have rung Shaw and Partners and am trying to negotiate a price as Commsec only charge $55 per transfer as opposed to $130 per transfer. I don't think I can move without Shaw and Partner's assistance. I looked at the Link form and it stipulates "If the deceased has a CHESS HIN, then please contact the sponsoring broker, as the transfer is unable to be processed by us".