Wills/probate question.

[AInightingale]

I was searching online for the will of a guy who died in 2020 in London - an Englishman by birth, never lived anywhere else to my knowledge. He was unmarried and childless. I was interested in seeing his will/probate docs as I thought it might help me find out a bit more about the family I'm trying to research. However, there's no record on the database, and it's quite an unusual name. I've searched the four years past 2020 and still no trace. Is it possible that probate would take so long - I know delays of two years aren't uncommon but five is a bit much. Or might it just be the case that he made a will but left a pittance and therefore the solicitor hasn't had to apply for probate? I know there are definitely cousins (in Ireland) so it's not a case of them having to search for any NOK. Thanks.

It’s unlikely probate was applied for, it should show up by now unless his estate was particularly complicated.

Are you sure le left a will? Either he didn’t, or like you said his estate was small and didn’t need probate.

What are you trying to find out?

If he didn't make a will, doesn't it have to go through probate - letters of administration or some such thing. Not sure of the procedure if the person is intestate but leaves a very small estate. My uncle died intestate, but he had a house that needed sold etc.

I'm trying to find out the names of his family as I need to work out whether his aunts and uncles married or had any children, I have very little detail on them, and a will might be helpful if beneficiaries were named.

Yes it’s LOA if no will, but again it depends on nett value of the estate. Do you think he left a property or savings?

I’m assuming you know he has no parents our siblings, hence looking for potential cousins. It should be straightforward enough to find his parents and grandparents names, then work downwards from there. You’d probably have to pay small amounts for bits of info, though.

Know that his parents are both dead and he seems to have been an OC, and I do know the names of his aunts and uncles but very little about their offspring. I have matches to a couple of them on Ancestry but it's the usual thing of sending messages and getting no response, grrr. They all fall into that awkward category of being born/getting married just after records end in Ireland! So I'm having to be creative to try to find out about them.

He was an actor (stage, nothing major) and seems to have also been a journalist so I don't think he would have been penniless. But his name is definitely the right one, ie his parents' name, it's not a stage name.

If he didn't own a property and didn't have much in savings then probate probably wasn't necessary. I was my nan's executor and didn't need probate because she had a council flat and about £7.000 in savings and insurances. I made enquiries with the probate service who said I didn't need to apply.

Yes, I'm beginning to think it must have been something like that @Fgfgfg. Another dead end!

if he owned property and didn't have any close relatives could he be on the bona vacantia list? I know it is no longer published but there may be other ways of checking.
Have you also checked the London Gazette for Trustee Notices?

Yes that 'bona vacantia' list has been taken offline @Fleurchamp - apparently it was being used by fraudsters!

I checked the other one you mentioned (thank you) but there's no trace of him.
He did have 1st/1st1R cousins in Ireland, well at least two that I know of, they seem to have been connected on social media so I'm sure the solicitor could have contacted them even if they'd been unaware of the death.