I can’t get my ex-husband’s cash

I lent my ex-husband £26,000 between 2010 and 2012. He had initially contacted me in desperation and said he was selling some land in Brazil but was having difficulty finding his original documents of ownership, which was holding up the sale.

I have documents granting me full possession of the remainder of his pension on his demise as collateral for the loan in the event of the debt not being paid before his death, which it wasn’t. He passed away in 2015.

Although Aviva insurance has been helpful and I have completed and returned all the relevant forms it has sent me since six months ago, this matter has not progressed.

I have a complete paper trail of all the dates that my money was transferred to my ex-husband, together with details from Aviva of him leaving me his pension.

I am 80 years of age and suffering from macular degeneration. I desperately need the loan repaying. The money was given in good faith and was my entire savings. CG, NORTH OF ENGLAND

Your husband had remarried and apparently there are a number of descendants.

You have an “expression of wishes” form signed by him. However, I understand that Aviva received another claim on this policy but this has not been pursued further.

When I first contacted Aviva it was trying to ascertain the exact personal circumstances of the deceased at the time of his death, including any dependants. It said it was proceeding cautiously.

I continued to keep tabs on this over the subsequent months.

Now at last Aviva has concluded that, on the basis that your ex-husband had made the nomination that you were the beneficiary of the policy after he had remarried, and

that, as I now learnt, he had contacted Aviva when he fell ill to check that it had received the nomination form, it was now making what it described as a discretionary decision to pay you the policy benefits.

The value of the policy is £33,600. The payment includes net interest of £732. You have made a donation to charity in respect of this outcome. You are delighted that this is sorted out.

Companies investment trust I was invited to invest in a convertible unsecured loan stock scheme under which I could opt to receive shares at the end of the scheme.

I elected to do this and was sent 313 shares in paper certificate form. My other shares in this company are with Alliance Trust Savings.

Not wishing to have my shares in two forms I contacted Alliance Trust Savings to have the new shares stored electronically as the others are.

The only suggestion it has made is for me to sell the paper shares and repurchase them

electronically, but this will incur share dealing costs. How can I avoid this? AB, WARWICKSHIRE

Following the final conversion of the stock into ordinary shares in the Standard Life UK Smaller Companies investment trust, the registrar issued you with an ordinary share certificate for the 313 shares you mention. You wanted to hold the shares together.

After I pushed Alliance Trust Savings it turned out that your other holding was actually held in an Isa, which you took out in 2015. Adding additional blocks of shares in the

way you intended is not permitted. You hadn’t realised that the other holding was in an Isa or that the procedure was not feasible.

Generally, though, to transfer certificated ordinary shares into Crest, the central securities depository that settles the majority of trades at the London Stock Exchange and allows securities to be traded without the physical exchange of certificates, you must ask the broker for a Crest stock deposit form to return completed along with your share certificate.

It may also be worth

noting that ATS withdrew its certificated trading service earlier this year.

Of course you could use another broker that does still deal with certificated shares and cash in the 313 shares. Then, if you have not used up this year’s Isa allowance of £20,000 already, you might want to rebuy the shares within your Isa.