Majority Shareholder - accessing the accounts

[MJRamsden]

Hi,
(I'm new so if this is in the wrong place, please move it).

I was left shares in my family's company, and the executors will not name me as shareholder or PSC. I want access to the full unaudited accounts; do I have a right to see them since the year the family member died?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mr D]

Shareholders have certain rights.
https://www.blakemorgan.co.uk/train...older-rights-access-companys-financial-docum/

However you likely also have an issue with the executors. Have they said what the problem is?

 

[MJRamsden]

@Mr D - No, they just don't like people "sniffing around their business". Thanks for the link, I'll write this now.

 

[Mr D]

@Mr D - No, they just don't like people "sniffing around their business". Thanks for the link, I'll write this now.

That's the thing about shareholders, they aren't people sniffing around. They are the owners.
There are tons of links like that regarding shareholders. As a shareholder you have rights, if you haven't been given the shares yet then the executor needs to fulfil their duty or get out of the way.

 

[MJRamsden]

@Mr D - I know. It wasn't exactly how we anticipated it to play out. It all spans back over a family dispute. The executors won't give me the shares and have filed a DS01 to strike the company off. I had the action suspended when I found out, but they had to send me a copy of this form and didn't. Wondering why they didn't send me a copy?

 

[Mr D]

@Mr D - I know. It wasn't exactly how we anticipated it to play out. It all spans back over a family dispute. The executors won't give me the shares and have filed a DS01 to strike the company off. I had the action suspended when I found out, but they had to send me a copy of this form and didn't. Wondering why they didn't send me a copy?

Stranger and stranger.
May be worth checking with some of the IPs we get posting on the insolvency forums, talk through the options available to you. Lisa, Gavin, probably a dozen or more others who know what can be done with a company like that.
Trying to strike the company off suggests its not trading.

 

[LiveNetworks Ltd]

Trying to strike the company off almost sounds like they're trying to start a new company and get rid of the evidence. I'd be checking if the directors are listed as directors of other companies.

 

[MJRamsden]

The business closed on 31 July 2017, and they had to wait three months. It was totally legitimate, so unfortunately I'm not that worried about any type of phoenix company or any that may come after. I do know they deliberately stripped it's assets (I've seen paperwork) and I just wanted to check the accounts.

 

[obscure]

Is the executor a family member who may be doing this due to a family dispute of some sort, or are they a solicitor?

Do you know exactly what the will said in regard to the disposition of the shares (and or other parts of the estate)? It is my understanding that, depending on the wording of the will, the executors have quite broad powers to decide on how an estate is divided/passed on to the beneficiaries. If the will states that "X gets the shares" then those shares pass to X. However if the will states that the estate be "divided equally...." then the executor may opt to sell assets and then divide the resulting money between the beneficiaries.

 

[MJRamsden]

How's this? - "all shares beneficially owned by me in any Company (other than any other shareholdings disposed of by this my Will or any Codicil) and or including any shares or shareholdings derived therefrom with all dividends"

 

[MJRamsden]

I forgot to respond to the question -the executors are immediate family.

 

[LiveNetworks Ltd]

If you're saying the directors have asset stripped the company, then that would be against the best interests of the shareholders which is against the law.

 

[ethical PR]

@MJRamsden I am sure you know this already, but if you want to pursue this, it sounds like you will need to take paid for legal advice from a suitably qualified corporate lawyer.

 

[obscure]

How's this? - "all shares beneficially owned by me in any Company (other than any other shareholdings disposed of by this my Will or any Codicil) and or including any shares or shareholdings derived therefrom with all dividends"

Incomplete. It defines what they are but doesn't state what happens to them. You also don't say if the shares in question go in the "all shares" category or the "any other shareholdings..."

 

[MJRamsden]

I think I need to find a corporate lawyer, and quick. I certainly think it's against the law, unfortunately authorities are not interested in this type of thing.

@obscure - It begins "I give to *my name* all shares beneficially owned by me in any Company (other than any other shareholdings disposed of by this my Will or any Codicil) and or including any shares or shareholdings derived therefrom with all dividends". They are shares that were not disposed of within the Will to other beneficiaries.