Foreign Grants of Probate and Resealing

Expert International Asset Services for Estates with Overseas Holdings

Estates increasingly comprise very varied assets overseas – these could be anything from shares in Canada to a bank account in Australia or the USA, to investment accounts and portfolios based in the USA. Irish estates often include shares in CRH, for whom the removal of its primary shareholder listing to the New York Stock Exchange has created both an opportunity and a challenge. Employees of major multinationals are part-paid in Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) shares, which themselves can be transferred into investment accounts based in the USA, changing the requirements to dispose of these shares yet again.

Some asset-holding institutions will make obtaining probate in that country a condition of winding up the estate, closing an account or liquidating foreign assets. Many foreign Courts are extremely fastidious; and their processes are far removed from the relative simplicity of probate proceedings in Ireland.

At Finders, our specialist International Asset Services team has years of experience and a network of overseas partners in this field, and can help the estate to navigate the widely different compliance and legal requirements for each country, engaging the necessary legal expertise in that jurisdiction, to help you reach the point where you can close the account or transfer ownership of the shares. (Finders can also help with share sales and bank and investment account closure work overseas.)

If these issues affect your estate matter, or to find out more, please contact us for an initial, informal discussion of your needs, followed by a free, bespoke quotation without obligation. Kindly provide a little background information confirming what you need, so we can advise you properly.