Inherited Shares in Australia: How to Find Investments You May Not Know About

When a family member passes away, their financial affairs can sometimes reveal investments that other family members did not know existed.

Shares may have been purchased many years earlier, received through employment or accumulated gradually over time. If the family does not have a complete record of the person's investments, identifying everything can become difficult.

If you are dealing with an estate and believe there may be forgotten shares or investments, a structured approach can help.

Start With the Deceased Person's Records

Begin by collecting the financial documents that are available.

Look for:

• Share certificates

• Dividend statements

• Tax records

• Bank statements

• Brokerage statements

• Investment correspondence

• Employment records

• Letters from companies or registries

Don't assume that only recent documents are useful. Older records may contain company names, shareholder numbers or addresses that help identify an investment.

Check Previous Addresses

A person's investment records may contain an address they used many years ago.

If the person moved during their lifetime, make a list of previous addresses and approximate dates.

This historical information can help when trying to understand why some investments may not appear in more recent records.

Review Their Employment History

Previous employment can also reveal investments.

Some people receive shares through employee share schemes and may hold them for many years.

If you know where the person worked, review employment and tax records for evidence of shares or other investment benefits.

Look for Old Company Names

Another challenge is that an investment may be connected with a company that no longer operates under its original name.

Companies can merge, change names, be acquired or become part of another organisation.

If an old document mentions a company that seems unfamiliar, investigate its history before assuming that the investment has no current relevance.

What If There Is Very Little Paperwork?

Not every family has a complete record of someone's financial history.

You may only find one old statement or remember that the person owned shares without knowing the company name.

In that situation, write down every detail you do know.

The person's former addresses, employers, approximate investment dates and any company names can all provide useful starting points.

Understanding the Estate Matters

When an investment belongs to a deceased person, the legal authority to deal with it can be important.

The executor or administrator of the estate may need to provide appropriate documentation before an investment can be dealt with.

The exact requirements depend on the circumstances, so professional legal or financial advice may be appropriate where the estate is complex.

When Specialist Tracing Assistance May Be Useful

If the available records don't provide enough information to identify an old investment, specialist assistance can be considered.

Investafind is an Australian service specialising in tracing lost shares and investments. Its service may be relevant when an estate contains incomplete investment records and there is reason to believe additional assets may need to be investigated.

Gathering as much historical information as possible before seeking assistance can make the investigation more organised.

Keep a Record of What You Find

As you identify investments, create a central record containing the company name, relevant references, supporting documents and any other important information.

This can make estate administration easier and reduce the chance of another investment becoming difficult to locate in the future.

Final Thoughts

Finding inherited shares is often a matter of reconstructing a person's financial history.

Old documents, previous addresses, employment records and company information can all provide pieces of the puzzle.

If you are dealing with an estate and suspect that there may be forgotten investments, start with the records available and work through the information systematically.

Where the history is complicated or incomplete, appropriate professional assistance may help establish what should be investigated next.

This article is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, legal or investment advice.