Sort of the reverse scenario happened with someone we knew. She had some IRA money that predated her marriage, and had named some family member as the beneficiary. When she died suddenly (traffic accident), her husband and daughter did NOT get the funds, at least automatically. We weren’t close enough to the situation to find out what ultimately happened (presumably the family member could have been not-an-asshole and disclaimed the inheritance, in which case I think it would have gone to the husband).
Based on this I’d take the cash now and reinvest
If you leave it in its current state or stocks held with the company at some point you will have to come back and liquidate it ( or your heirs if you have lived long and well off your other investments) . With passing of time given its state being held by the company it is just going to get harder to sort it all out down the line. The company may even have changed name , collapsed or been bought or split into multiple entities.
Get the money out of its current awkward state , and if the sentimental component is important, reinvest in the same stock ( and rebalance the rest of t your portfolio to account for having more exposure here)
Dividends are important as well , for example 5% cash growth through dividends isn’t terrible regardless of the current stock value fluctuations
That has all been taken into consideration including what all of our future heirs will have to deal with. It’s been a huge pain in the ass for my sister to take care of. She is liquidating, the estate will pay whatever capital gains tax there is. (From what I understand only the amount between the death and the liquidation is subject to tax) We are free to reinvest as we see fit.
Between splits, dividend reinvesting and price rising the stock has gone from an original inheritance of $2300 to over $170,000.
That’s great on the growth and future stuff being sorted, I wasn’t questioning your planing or situation I should have said ‘ if it were me these are things I’d be looking at’ rather than asking you about your situation.
I guess buried in my incoherent mess of a post is what I would do. If confronted with a complex issue about how to manage the liquidity and transfer of an asset now, which likely will only get more complicated later, I’d get the cash in my mitts now and risk a small financial hit to avoid punting complications down the line and having to deal with asset transfers issues later when everyone involved who may need to be asked isn’t around or I am not around.