daltonsurf
Junior Member
California:
Hi,
I found some very old stock certificates of my late grandmothers that totalled over 300,000 shares. I paid a firm in new york named R.M. smythe smytheonline.com to research the certificates as I could not find any trace of what became of the company.
Turns out it was bought/merged/changed names a few times and stocks were exchanged but not to our favor as each time the total shares became less and of course there have been alot of splits that went the other way as well leaving the total # of shares at 350 shares but the companies share value is over 40$ per share. The company says it does not have to honor those certificates but out of the kindness of its heart will exchange them and pay out to us at a rate of 20.00 a share and says it doesnt have to pay out at todays market rate at what is closing at in the mid 40$. Is this ok? Should we just take what they are offering? Can they do that?
Hi,
I found some very old stock certificates of my late grandmothers that totalled over 300,000 shares. I paid a firm in new york named R.M. smythe smytheonline.com to research the certificates as I could not find any trace of what became of the company.
Turns out it was bought/merged/changed names a few times and stocks were exchanged but not to our favor as each time the total shares became less and of course there have been alot of splits that went the other way as well leaving the total # of shares at 350 shares but the companies share value is over 40$ per share. The company says it does not have to honor those certificates but out of the kindness of its heart will exchange them and pay out to us at a rate of 20.00 a share and says it doesnt have to pay out at todays market rate at what is closing at in the mid 40$. Is this ok? Should we just take what they are offering? Can they do that?
I've never seen that kind of nonsense before. If you have "X" number of shares, you are to be paid at the market value, not some price the company decides on just for you. I think you need to take the cert to a broker and see what they say. I'd rather pay a broker's commission vs. half price for the shares.