Inheritance Delay

[3littlefish]

Hi,

Question.
I have been left shares in a will. Do i own these shares from the date of death or the date the shares are officially given to me? (potentially a year or so later)

 

[ClubMan]

I think that the effective date of the transfer of ownership will be the date of the death of the original holder. I also seem to recall that the any CGT liability to that date "disappears" on the death of the original holder and the acquisition price of the shares for the inheritor is assumed to be the market value on the date of death. If the shares will not be transferred into your name for a while after death then somebody (the executor?) should contact the registrar to have the shares marked as in the name of a deceased person and then any dividends due should eventually be (re)issued in the name of the inheritor. My mother is still in the same position (almost five years on) with a small number of shares that my father held and which still haven't successfully been signed over to her due to complications in dealing with the company's registrar...

 

[3littlefish]

Thanks Clubman.