Some of us forgetful folk might be due more than the odd copper that we’ve left in a drawer alongside some string and elastic bands. According to recent research, there is an astonishing £50 billion of unclaimed assets sitting in dormant bank accounts, share registers and elsewhere.
The numbers break down to £37bn in lost pensions; £4.5bn in lost bank and building society accounts; £2.8bn of assets held by wealth managers; £2.5bn worth of lost share holdings and £2bn of life cover and long-term savings policies (source: FT.com).
These assets, especially pensions and shares, are often due to administrators being bought by larger companies, bought again and rebranded. Combine that with a few life changes such as moving house or a name change, and you’re looking at a tricky path to reclaiming what’s rightfully yours. As long as you have your own paperwork proving your identity, such as birth certificates and marriage or divorce paperwork, we can help you to trace these lost assets.
Often, families will know that their dead relatives may have meant to leave them shares in a well-loved football team or their part of a pension pot, but they are unable to find the paperwork or trace the original administrators or trustees. When found, some of these assets can be substantial as they haven’t been touched in all the time that they were missing.
At Grafton Asset Research and Grafton Genealogy, we have the expertise to help you trace not only who might be due assets, but the very assets themselves. Over years of working in the sector, we know how to research and find pensions, shareholdings and other dormant assets.
Able to help individuals, executors and solicitors, we can make sure that assets are rightfully claimed and returned to the original owners and their beneficiaries.