What happens to a stocks and shares account when you die? Transfers, sales and CGT (UK)
18 August 2026 · Inherit Vault
A share portfolio is one of the stranger assets an executor deals with: it doesn't stop existing, it doesn't freeze the way a bank account does, but it also doesn't do anything at all until somebody with the right authority actually instructs the broker.
The broker needs proof of death and a grant of probate
Investment platforms and brokers require formal notification of the death, and almost always require a grant of probate, or letters of administration, before releasing or transferring anything of significant value, the same authority needed to access most other substantial estate assets. Smaller accounts sometimes have a threshold below which this is waived, but it varies by provider.
The executor usually chooses: transfer or sell
Shares can either be transferred directly into a beneficiary's name, known as "in specie", or sold by the executor with the cash proceeds distributed instead. Which makes sense depends on the beneficiary, some want to keep holding the same investments, others would rather receive cash and decide separately, and on the practical difficulty of transferring less common or overseas holdings.
Capital Gains Tax resets at the date of death
For CGT purposes, the value of shares is effectively reset to their market value on the date of death, the "tax-free uplift". An executor selling shortly after death, at close to that value, often triggers little or no capital gains tax, but if the shares are held for a long period afterwards, or transferred to a beneficiary who sells much later, gains are then calculated from the death-date value onward, not from whatever the deceased originally paid.
ISA wrappers don't survive the transfer
An ISA's tax-free status is personal to the account holder and doesn't pass on with the investments themselves, though a surviving spouse or civil partner can claim an "additional permitted subscription" allowance equal to the ISA's value, letting them shelter an equivalent amount in their own ISA. Anyone else inheriting ISA investments receives them as ordinary, taxable holdings.
An executor with the account provider, an approximate value and a note of whether the beneficiary wants to hold or sell can usually settle an investment account in weeks. Without knowing the account exists in the first place, it's one of the easiest substantial assets to simply leave undiscovered.
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