Share dividends paid in error

Did he feel it was unfair when he spent 12 years receiving dividends that he knew he wasn't entitled to?

Your friend has almost certainly committed a criminal offence and would do well to pay the maney back ASAP. Have a look through this thread:

If he didn't realise it (and can anyone prove he did?) and he's spent the money I don't see 1) how he's committed an offence, and 2) why he has to pay it back.

It's a small world. The place where I work recently had a complaint from someone who had not had a dividend for about 10 years because the dividend was paid wrongly into someone else's account. The registrars quickly coughed up the divs even though it had not been proved that they had actually inputted the wrong account details! Divs amounted to around 150 in total not sure if they will attempt to reclaim from the person's account whose had the divs all this time.

There is no question that he shouldn't have got the money, but claiming ignorance and being civil to the registrars should, I would hope, allow some staggered repayment. As others have said, it probably depends on the amount.

Putrid poetry, dismal doggerel, extrava-stanzas...

In article , skip writes

There is a time limit on recovery of a debt which I believe is 6 years. I do not know whether this would apply in these circumstances but if it does then he could avoid repaying all but the last six years. If these payments are small and have been entering by BACS then it would be credible to say that they had not been noticed but if he has been cashing cheques then it suggests dishonesty.

IANAL, IANAA

I disagree with the dishonesty bit because some people don't know what shares they hold and would assume they did hold them if they had a portfolio of shares.

I think a six year repayment schedule is too long but it should depend on the persons income and amount to be paid.

I think the six years limit on recovery of debt applies in this case.

I think there would certainly be a risk of it which is why I mentioned it. If for example it was a quarterly dividend, paid by cheque and one of only a few investments then it would be difficult to argue that the sale of the shares only 1-3mths before had been forgotten.

Seems fair that the company should suffer some small loss for a negligence covering 12 years; I'm guessing this is a small amount to have avoided detection for so long.