Settling an estate with an heir hunter

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I’m going to change some details to keep it vague.
DH received a few phone calls last year from someone saying the we’re trying to settle the estate of a woman who’s name he didn’t know. He basically ignored assuming it was up there with accident at work and PPI. His cousin who he sees once a year called and asked him to talk to the lawyer because he was holding back settlement.
It seems relatives of his dad and uncle (both deceased) have been countacted. He called back and was informed the estate was substantial but given no specifics. He checked the firms website and it seemed legit enough. He send of ID and proof of address on the basis that info was all out there and anyone scamming us wouldn’t get much.
Since then he’s heard nothing.
This was all at Easter and he was the last of his cousins to make contact.
He thinks he’ll nwber hear anything again, I’ll we’ll get a letter asking for £250 fees.
The estate is in England, we’re in Scotland so know idea how long it normally works.
I don’t think we’re waiting for a million pounds but is this a scam?
Should he be more forceful in asking what is happening?
It’s just weird that they were insistent it was all urgent then nothing for months.
Thanks for sticking with a long boring thread.

You can check for the person's name on the bona vocantia list.

Have you called up and asked?

Heir hunting is legitimate and pretty competitive given the commission they earn, so it's not somehting that's automatically a scam. And you don't pay a fee; they get a commission from the estate. Usually someone will come round and have you sign a document to agree that you will accept the inheritance minus their fee so that no other company can then beat them to it. So give them a call.

And on fact could apply for the money yourselves.

The heir hunting company will report back to the solicitors that you are who they were looking for. It's then up to the solicitors to settle the estate and pay you. As Iaimtomisbehave1 said, the heir hunters are paid their fee by the solicitors. Do you know the name of the firm of solicitors dealing with the estate? The heir hunters can give that to you - or you could ask the cousin. It can drag on for months though.

Diaclaimer: I have no experience of this at all.

As the estate belonged to someone your husband has never heard of, it would be fair to assume the relative was a distant one. Maybe the company has managed to find a closer relative but haven't bothered to let your husband know. Can he just call and ask? I think that would be reasonable, since he hasn't heard from them in so long.

Estates can take a very long time to wrap up depending on the amount of assets involved. Life insurance, bonds, stock, selling home(s), and closing out bank accounts, settling debts etc. all take time.

Then there may be distribution of specific items to people, donations to charities as well as heirs.

It would not ofc hurt to chase them up for an update though.

The deceased name and date of death are online. Still no idea how they are related.
It was a solicitor that has made all the communication.
It’s more that when he asked for more info she said that she couldn’t say anything until all the heirs had been contacted. He even tried asking if we were talking a nice lunch or a yacht and she just kept saying substantial.

That’s true Neptunesgiraffe, maybe there is a closer relative.
He’s very laid back about the whole thing and is happy to write it all off.
It was the flurry of activity then nothing at all.

If it was a nice lunch then the heir hunters wouldn’t be wasting their time I suspect. It’s a legitimate profession, and if you can track down the details of the company it probably won’t be a scam.

But never pay any money up front - the fee will be deducted from the money you recieve.

I was contacted by Heirhunter and they are what they say. After a long time I did receive a small bequest.

It could be substantial together, but it will be split up between the heirs so it could end up being a smallish amount.

My dad had something similar happen a few years ago. He too ignored the initial letters, until his brother mentioned he'd had thrm too. Turns out it was a distant cousin. They all got a chunk of money through after a long while. There was a big afternoon tea arranged for everyone to meet and there were two blokes the absolute spitting image of my uncle, none of whom had met before.

Oh we’re definitely not ordering the yacht, there are 10 cousins in that cohort alone so whatever minus lawyers fees, minus heir hunter, minus costs divided by 10 won’t be much.
Would over a year be a likely time frame? I don’t know why I am thinking about it today (yes I do the beautiful mansion I pass on the dog walk is up for sale).
Feels so mercenary, DH will probably end up giving whatever it is to charity.

There'll also be a share held back in a trust in case another claimant comes forward in the future.

@BringOnTheScience

Unclaimed money in an estate is only kept for so many years before it is handed over to the government. Heir hunters get involved with money which will soon be claimed by the government. If anything is held back, it can't be claimed in the future as it won't be there anymore.

If it's not an heir hunting company and its the deceased solicitor doing all the work, then it may have longer before it is forfeited but I've never heard of anything being held back. If I'm wrong, where can I find the info?

And on fact could apply for the money yourselves

Think there's a disclaimer when you "accept" the heir hunter to act for you that you cannot apply yourself unless they get the commission.

There was a similar clause on something we were contacted about, old forgotten shares, transaction went through smoothly.

In your shoes, I'd contact the Solicitor and ask if everything's still going ahead and what sort of timeline are they looking at.

Thank you hive mind. I chivvied DH a bit who phoned the solicitor who it turns out is on maternity leave. They didn’t know who was covering this case but it’s not exactly urgent.
Nothing has been signed or sent out - that’s what made DH think it was some kind of scam.
I’ll let my dream house pass and forget about it again.

If you havnt signed anything then go ahead and make your own claim if you want too.
I've no idea how it works so don't know if it's quicker or if you need to pay fees etc but you could look into It!

I’m not sure who I’d make the claim too though if it’s already with lawyers.
I suppose if there’s a house to be sold that will take time. Not sure why it’s all such a secret though. Is it maybe because if I think great the estate is worth £100 M (haha) I’ve got £10 M coming my way then it’s swallows in costs I might be a problem.
I also wanted to know about this person who has died without family. What if they had a long term partner or friends who were like family so should get the money. We wouldn’t want to take it in those circumstances.

Long term partners who lived with the deceased are entitled to make a claim if there is no will. That will have been looked into first and dealt with.

Read here www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/unclaimed-estates-list

And see if you can do anything.

Settling an estate can take anything over 6 months. Some depending on how complicated they are can take a year or two or maybe longer. They won't tell you much because they won't know how much your dh is getting at the moment until everything has been sorted.

That’s good if partners can claim. I’ll pass the info over to DH and he can decide what he wants to do.