# Company Won't Honor Stock Certificate **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 18, 2025, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-wont-honor-stock-certificate/1024077 "2025-10-18T14:25:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-wont-honor-stock-certificate/1024077/21 "2025-10-20T20:18:07Z")
> [@SusanS](#): > > In a case like this I would think that it’s their responsibility to prove, when asked, that they provided or at least made good faith efforts (i.e. have evidence that mail was returned, etc) to contact holders. Transfer agents have to keep records of that sort for 7 years (I believe). But it only has to show the records to the regulators, like the SEC and banking regulators, if transfer agent is also a bank. The transfer agent doesn’t have to respond to inquiries from random people with questions. If you prove you are the rightful shareholder, the transfer agent would probably be willing to show you the records proving that it contacted your husband but at that point, it would also be happy to just put the shares in your name and you wouldn’t particularly care about the long-missing notice. Truly though, when a major transfer agent is obligated to send a shareholder communication, it does. Transfer agents get paid to send out those notices, so that’s what they do. If you believe that the transfer agent failed to send you a notice, you can report it to the SEC as a “Tip Complaint, or Referral” here: [https://www.sec.gov/welcome-tips-complaints-and-referrals](https://www.sec.gov/welcome-tips-complaints-and-referrals) Again, with the government shutdown, you won’t hear anything back from the SEC anytime soon. Worse yet, they won’t comment on active investigations unless they contact you as a potential fact witness. Even if the SEC staff believes Computershare violated its obligations, they are not going to represent your individual interests. > [@SusanS](#): > > I have no reason to believe they ever contacted us. My husband would not have let this go if he knew there was a takeover happening. Thinking about this further, another possibility is that the transfer agent did contact your husband and he did deal with it. He may have reported the original certificate as lost or stolen and gotten a replacement certificate for shares in the new company. In which case, the certificate you have might be worthless. Hopefully, that’s not the case. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![SusanS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@SusanS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SusanS)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-wont-honor-stock-certificate/1024077/22 "2025-10-20T21:13:24Z")
I agree with all you say. I did ask the head of customer relations for the company to provide me with proof we had been contacted and heard nothing. I don’t want to get into a big legal situation, but I also don’t want to give up too early. I will file with the SEC after the 90 days have run. I checked the unclaimed property for our state and there is nothing there. It looks to me like they just said too bad for them, and pocketed the value of the stock at the time. I’d be happy to just be reimbursed what the stock was worth at the time they overtook the company. I’d be happy to take a commensurate number of shares of what they were giving at the time they exchanged stock certificates. I just want to not have to walk away from my money and give it to them. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2025, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-wont-honor-stock-certificate/1024077/23 "2025-10-28T14:09:42Z")
> [@SusanS](#): > > I will file with the SEC after the 90 days have run. I don’t understand what 90 days you believe has to run. You can contact the SEC now but the biggest issue is that with the government shutdown, you won’t hear anything back anytime soon. > [@SusanS](#): > > It looks to me like they just said too bad for them, and pocketed the value of the stock at the time. There is no mechanism or way for the transfer agent to just keep the stock. Their job is to transfer it to whoever it belongs to. If that’s you, you can get the stock. Did you contact Computershare? What did they say? ---
**Author:** ![SusanS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@SusanS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SusanS)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2025, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-wont-honor-stock-certificate/1024077/24 "2025-10-28T15:00:28Z")
I was advised to give then 90 days. Since the SEC isn’t operating now it doesn’t make a difference. I have to ask the current transfer agent about this. I don’t think they were the past transfer agent of the original stock, so that may be an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-wont-honor-stock-certificate/1024077/25 "2025-10-28T15:09:41Z")
I’m confused. Who advised you to give whom 90 days to do what? ---
**Author:** ![SusanS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@SusanS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SusanS)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2025, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-wont-honor-stock-certificate/1024077/26 "2025-10-28T15:58:26Z")
I believe it was on the SEC website, It was to the company that won’t honor my stock certificate to decide to honor it. If not, they get reported. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-wont-honor-stock-certificate/1024077.md?page=1)