beneficiary of long lost relative help

[unicornwonders]

hi this is a long one but i’d appreciate any help. Two years ago i was contacted by a legit company looking for relatives of someone who had died (most of us had no knowledge of who he was) anyway today i’ve been told it’s all now been passed to a solicitor and they can give us details of the solicitor in march, Has anyone had this happen? what was the outcome? As awful as this sounds if there is any financial gain it would be very helpful although very sad but i’m not quite sure what to expect

Are you absolutely positive it's not a scam?

@DrJoanAllenby yeah i’ve searched the company and done a lot of research cos that’s what i thought at first.

Somebody I know on another forum was in a similar position. Not a life changing amount but plenty.

Also, if you remember the BBC Heir Hunters programme, on of their cases featured somebody called Charlie Cullum. However his colleagues in the seventies and eighties knew him as Carl Franz Edouard von Eudeni.

@Bromptotoo do you know how long it took for the person you knew? i’ve never seen that program but might have to have a look.

Yes we've just received some inheritance from an heir hunter OP. From the first letter to receiving anything took 4 years. There was a small financial gain.

Something similar happened to my Nan..
I think sometimes when someone dies without a will or obvious heirs, there are companies which track down distant relatives and effectively take a commission on any inheritance.
My Nan got a few hundred pounds. The company took a percentage.

@Mizydoscape do you mind me asking if it was worth them finding you or did it not really do anything for you financially?

I've sent you a PM 😊

@Mizydoscape thann you :)

8 or 10 years ago my DH was contacted by a Canadian heir hunter company, there were 6 potential heirs. One refused to engage, convinced that it was a scam, the others did their homework and cooperated, DH got about £600, as opposed to the £400 he’d have got if she’d cooperated. Sad, she’d have got £1600, but she’s not close family and was actually rather rude to those who did.
Not sure what the charges were, but as DH and family had no clue about the person £600 was a nice bonus.

i don’t think it is an heir hunter, a solicitor instructed a company to come looking for us all, he died in 2020 and that’s when we was all (starting to be) found, and it went back to the solicitors (the report of everyone) in feb this year. So i’m not sure it’s a heir hunter, i’m not sure what it is if i’m honest.

Just wait and see what happens. Ask for a cheque if you are nervous about giving your bank details out.

If they sent a firm to look for you that's pretty much exactly the 'heir hunter' scenario. There are several, probably loads, of such firms. While I suspect much work comes by reputation they advertise in the legal press.

Heir hunter companies have to put forward a robust family tree to present to the probate people. They have to show that their research is exhaustive and meets the genealogical proof standard - usually by obtaining certificates and chasing down all stems of the tree. This can take a while, especially if the surname is Brown, Smith or something equally common.

The fee they charge also covers insurance so that if another cousin appears out of the woodwork after all the money has been distributed, they don't have to go back to the beneficiaries asking for a portion back.

Because of the cost and effort involved, the heir hunting firms usually target estates where there is a property involved - they can look at the Land Registry records to cross reference against the name of the deceased. If there is property involved the estate is usually going to be at least £60k plus, so a 10% fee makes it worthwhile for them. If the estate is worth £1k, it'd cost more than 10% of that just in getting duplicate certificates.

But even if you assume the estate is c. £100k, you have no way of knowing how many beneficiaries there might be if you don't know the deceased and aren't familiar with other branches of his/her family.

There’s a government list called bona vocantia that you can search if google.

@DuckBee i’ve tried the bona vocantia and can’t find anything, however i found out today that this was actual a death from 2012, went into probate 2013, we was contacted 2021 and this went back to solicitors for payments (i have no idea of what) this year.
@Misthios would i still be able to check land registry now for 2012/2013?

Probably, but it wouldn't tell you much as you don't know whether you are one of 6 beneficiaries, or 200 beneficiaries. Also, not all beneficiaries will receive the same.

Bona Vacantia is where there is no will and no known blood relatives in which case the estate passes to the Crown.

If there is a will, or known relatives who cannot be traced, then I think the process is that the Estate, or the shares of the untraceable, are paid into Court. If somebody subsequently comes along and can prove they're the missing relative then the Court will order the money to be paid over.

I suspect most heir hunter type activity relates to the latter group or those that may potentially fall in to it.