Administering Foreign Shares and Funds

Dealing with overseas assets can be complex as every country has different rules, forms and processes to navigate. We can assist by helping you repatriate foreign shares and funds back to the UK for distribution.

Navigating complicated overseas processes

When assets such as funds or shares are located overseas, our experience translates into successful transactions. We understand the pitfalls and processes, so we can sell or transfer the necessary assets in the quickest possible time.

Our long-standing experience means that we can quickly navigate the red tape in any given country. We have the know-how and proven processes required in order to verify, transfer or sell assets, such as funds or shares on behalf of your clients when located overseas.

Saving you time and money

We are experts in repatriating assets and we use our extensive experience and global network of local professionals to deal with overseas assets quickly and seamlessly.

With us as your single point of contact for the whole asset repatriation process, you’ll save time and money. Many estates are formed in part by shareholdings and selling these quickly and efficiently can be an effective way of releasing funds into the estate in order to settle debts and other expenses.

Grants and reseals

When dealing with overseas assets, it is often necessary to reseal a Grant or apply for a new Grant in the relevant jurisdiction(s). In some jurisdictions, such as Hong Kong, it is only necessary to obtain a reseal of a Grant, whereby you apply for the Grant issued here in England and Wales to have a Hong Kong seal added. In other jurisdictions, such as Jersey, you complete a full Grant application and receive a new Grant from the courts in the relevant jurisdiction.

We can arrange for a Grant to be resealed or apply for a new Grant on your behalf. Our specialists complete most of the work in-house and our local partners across the globe are available to make any necessary physical court applications.

Long-established relationships across the globe

We can work in most jurisdictions across the globe and our network of on-the-ground experts can help us overcome challenges such as foreign paperwork, language barriers, and the need to attend court in person.

We have excellent relationships with local officials in many financial institutions so we can even close bank accounts in numerous countries around the world.

We can work in the following overseas jurisdictions; the USA, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, Singapore, Malaysia, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

If you are looking to administer foreign assets in another country, please get in touch with our Client Services Team and we will investigate how we can help.

North American assets

At Title Research, we can even deal with complicated North American assets, including obtaining tax clearance from the Internal Revenue Service and reclaiming escheated funds. Click here to find out more about how we can help you deal with North American assets.

Expedited stock transfers

If you are administering an estate with shares traded on the US or Canadian Stock Exchanges, it’s very likely you’ll need a Medallion Signature Guarantee before the shares can be transferred or sold. We can help manage that process for you, ensuring efficient share transfers, and helping you administer your clients’ assets much sooner than would have otherwise been possible.

Case study: Resealing a Grant in Australia to sell shareholdings

We were approached to sell some Australian shareholdings. As a Commonwealth country, Australia will reseal Grants from England & Wales. Therefore, we needed to reseal the Grant to allow us to sell the shareholdings.

Given the difficulties both in terms of distance and time-zones, we used our local legal partner to liaise with the Australian Courts and institutions. We prepared a Power of Attorney to give our Australian partner the authority to obtain a resealed Grant. We sent the Power of Attorney to the client to sign and return along with any supporting documents. These documents were then couriered to Australia and submitted to the Australian Probate Registry.

The Power of Attorney also gave our partner the authority to sell the shareholdings once the resealed Grant was received, with little additional involvement from our client. After the Grant was resealed, our Australian partner registered the resealed Grant with the share registrar and facilitated the sale of the shares. The funds were remitted directly to our client, who also received a contract note and the original resealed Grant.