Hello all! This might be a long one, so buckle up!
So - Back in June last month, my OH was contacted by an estranged family member.
She went on to tell him that his grandfather passed away a week prior, and had left OH his entire estate. Property, car, all belongings, bank account etc.
OH was listed as next of kin, and sole beneficiary as out of his children ( 2 sons) 1 died years prior and the other one he was estranged from.
The family member that reached out was OHs great aunt (his grandfathers sister). She lives in the UK and was informed of her brothers death (we are not sure who by) and needed to contact OH to let him know of his inheritance.
She told us that OH grandfather moved to Bulgaria many years ago (we believe between 2009-2012 approximately) and never returned to the UK.
The only information we have is his full name, date of birth and death, information about his sons (OHs father and uncle), and the fact that he had a UK bank account (now frozen) and presumably a bank account in Bulgaria also.
She told us that some Romani people were living with him on the land that his property was situated on. They returned home one day last month to find him dead. (He had been previously unwell with liver disease, so although this does sound strange , there is no suspicion surrounding his death) they took 2000 Bulgarian currency from his wallet (on him at the time) to give to the emergency services to cover costs for taking him (we assume to hospital) and he was then buried around 3 days later with no funeral.
We have no death certificate and we are unsure how to obtain one.
The family member (OHs great aunt) has now made herself unreachable (as have all other relevant family members) and will no longer answer any questions we have.
We spoke to a Bulgarian solicitor via email and the phone, they gave us a price but said they are unable to proceed without more information and a death certificate, none of which we have.
We have no idea where to go from this point forward. We have no idea what the laws are over there , particularly surrounding property inheritance (we have read mixed information surrounding this) and we do not know the extent of the funds in the bank accounts.
Is this going to cost us more than it is actually worth ??
If anybody has any advice or experience surrounding issues like this, please send it my way. I would be very grateful!!
Thank you in advance!