Heir Hunter

Ditto! Wise words I deed calistemon! Relatively easy to check out the"solicitor" and to check the London gazette for death notices of intestates too. Be wary too of the supposed status of your dear aunt, my friend's mum had her run ragged with sociycare and scraping together money to pay for day care too, only to find close to £1million (yes you read correctly) stashed all over her sizeable house , behind wallpaper, in mattresses, in jars in cellar in old washing machines etc you name it! Her husband had been a jewellery wholesaler and had died some 30+ years before her in 70s. Very sadly it tippedmy friend over the edge and she did the unthinkable, I miss her still and cannot still believe her mum so cruel?

My FiL did not make a will always saying"there's plenty time for that" and that it's "none of your business what I've got saved" he subsequently contracted Alzheimer's and MiL survived him with dementia and no will! It costs my DH nearly 2 years of dreadful heart breaking battling to manage his DM's social fees in carehome and to get power of attorney, costs an absolute fortune (another gov ripoff!) And we managed to between us sort the estate between 3 sibs. But an absolute nightmare all because the older gens thought that they wouldn't need a will cos they weren't millionaires! In their eyes it automatically went to the kids equally! It's made DH bitter towards his parents as they appeared to not trust him to know their financial affairs.sad

A friend of ours died aged 91 her sister was named as the executor of her will however, her sister being in her 80s did not want to be the executor of the will so she asked a local solicitor to sort the will out for her. 14 months later the sister was sent a cheque for £75,000 there was no brake down as to what had been paid to whom except the solicitors fees of £36,000. When the sister enquired as to what had been paid out the solicitor just replied “oh to her church and other good causes”. The deceased’s had never been a church going person.
The solicitor justifies his fee by telling her “I’ve had to put a lot of work in to sort the will out.” I personally think he laughed all the way to his bank.

You can do it yourself but you will need to prove a blood relationship with all relevant certificates. There are guides on the Bina Vacantia site to show how to do it. If there are lots of possible beneficiaries it could be expensive. Not sure if the property is owned who is responsible for its sale and to wind up any estate. If a solicitor does this or an heir hunting company they do that and you would get a proportion of the rest of the estate less the costs and the percentage they charge you. Just do some homework. If 1 has contacted you chances are there will be many more

Kateykrunch - my MIL and her niece received a letter about an inheritance in 2010 from Hoopers, one of the companies which featured on Heir Hunters. She recognised the name of the deceased as a cousin she had not seen for years. MIL said he was a bit of a recluse and she did not think he had any money. The niece thought it was worth trying to do ourselves but having researched the family history I knew that the cousin's mother was one of ten children and that it would be complicated.
We persuaded MIL to sign the document and Hoopers took 2 years to find all the heirs. Turned out the cousin had thousands in stocks and shares yet only lived by candlelight! In total 46 people shared the estate. MIL would have inherited £13,500 but after Hoopers took their fee received nearly £8,500. At the time neither DH or myself would have had the time to spend on all the research but it was still a nice surprise for MIL at the age of 90.

Oopsadaisy1

I would think if there are more cousins then they would have to trace them, why only you? They should all be able to claim against her estate, who is liable for the funeral costs? You ?
It doesn’t sound right, If they came to you then there must be a lot of money ( they don’t bother with small estates) and they legally have to try to find all family members who might have a claim to the Estate.
I would try to find out a bit more before I signed anything.

Yes, I agree it sounds odd. On the TV programmes they only search for heirs if there is enough money involved to make it worth their while. Why would they bother otherwise? If there is life or funeral insurance involved it should show a beneficiary and there would be no inheritance tax involved
Strange.

A solicitor charged with dealing with an estate would write to you not turn up asking you to sign documents without you being given the full details. That person may be trying to beat another firm to get you to sign the authorisation so that they reap any possible benefit eg the costs of sorting out the estate and there may well be a lot more than you envisage. Tread carefully, see a solicitor to have confirmed who the person is and the level of the estate, also any funeral costs.

The heir hunting firms don’t usually know how much money is involved until after they have traced possible beneficiaries and put in a claim on their behalf. Sometimes they find out there was little or nothing in the estate. Sometimes a will turns up. They take that chance, some they win, some they lose. But this sounds like a straightforward case where OP could do it herself if she wished, if the home will show her the aunt’s papers and it looks from those like there could be money left after the debts and the council’s expenses for arranging the funeral are paid. I wouldn’t give a large part of my inheritance over to an heir hunter though I might feel morally obliged to give them something if I wouldn’t otherwise have known of the death.

Don't sign anything.
Consult a good solicitor.
My elderly brother died 3 weeks ago. Single, no children. No will.
Yesterday I had an appointment with a brilliant solicitor. I am dealing with it myself regarding probate. I can tell you some of what she told me regarding relatives.
I am guessing in your case there is no will. If you don't know, they will do a search for you. At a cost.
They will do a search to find out if your Aunt was in debt with any companies etc. At a cost.
Did your aunt have any sisters. brothers. uncles, aunts still alive? I wouldn't think so but they would inherit before you and other cousins.
In my understanding, you are your aunt's niece? If there are any other nieces and nephews they would inherit also.
The big warning I'm now going to tell you what I was told by my solicitor yesterday. I'm 100% on this. you, yes you, will be liable to pay for ALL your Aunts debts if she had any. For example rent arrears, carer debts if she had any, bills or individuals she owed money to.
I was told an advert could be put in a London newspaper notifying that any debts accrued by your aunt to apply to recover those debts within a deadline of 6 months.
As I've said above a solicitor can do a search at a cost.
I, myself, have instructed my solicitor to do a search although I know 100% he owes no one. At least I will have peace of mind.

I for a peace of mind get the number for the London Solicitors and ask them the question before I sign anything. It is worth ringing I know people been caught out. Sorry to hear about your Aunt.

Ten years ago my brothers and I inherited a share of £1.2million left by my father's cousin. We didn't know he existed. There were 47 beneficiaries in total!

'Finders' found me after two years of searching. My grandmother had changed my father's name by deed poll after her husband had walked out when Dad was 4 years old so he took his stepfather's name. His former surname came to light when I applied for POA for my mother and that's when Finders contacted me.

Solicitors hoovered up a large share but fortunately we were near the top of the tree thanks to my father being an only child. We received £43,000 each and paid Finders £5,000 each out of that.

We all had to wait for property to be sold and there were contestants - housekeeper and son, who insisted there must be a will because they would be in it. It was a nail biting time and in the end there was no will but the solicitors dragged out the search thereby ramping up their costs.

We were all delighted with our considerable windfall though

I am sorry, but your solicitor is wrong, the executors of a will or adminstrators do not have to pay the bills from their own assets if the deceased's debts exceed their assets.

If that were the case, nobody would ever agree to be an executor, and since banks and solicitors are often appointed executors, I am as sure as hell, they won't pay debts from company funds, on the contrary, I think their fees get precedence.

What happens if someone leaves debts of £1,000 and assets of £100, is that the debts are paid pro rata. In this case debtors would get 10p in the £ for every £ of their debt. Just as in a bankruptcy, which is effectively the same situation.

My husband and his 3 brothers were contacted about their estranged brother who had died.Unfortunatly it was to pay for his funeral he did not have the proverbial pot to p--s in!

Heir Hunters are a bit like Nigerian Princes, or those solicitors who write to you from America because someone with your surname" has died and mentioned you as next of kin in their will, or the handsome American army doctor who is widowed. Do your own research. For all you know, the old aunt is still playing canasta with her rest-home buddies. Also, if you agree to be the heiress, you agree to take on the debts, too.

sharon the inheritors have to pay the debts ‘From the Estate’ not personally.

merlotgran

mokryna

Be very careful about Heir Hunters. Don’t sign anything. that is my experience.

Heir Hunters are simply in the business of finding the beneficiaries of somebody who has died intestate. They don't get paid their percentage until after the estate is settled, which can take years.

Sorry I beg to differ. When I won my court case the company asked the judge that I pay his costs because he had spent so much. The judge refused his request.

Which company was that, mokryna?

Kaggi60

I for a peace of mind get the number for the London Solicitors and ask them the question before I sign anything. It is worth ringing I know people been caught out. Sorry to hear about your Aunt.

I cannot believe you heard this right , debts ( unless in joint names ) die with you if there are no funds of the deceased to cover them . This I know .

Oopsadaisy1

sharon the inheritors have to pay the debts ‘From the Estate’ not personally.

Yes, you're right Ooosadaisy1. Thank you.
I've only had one solicitor appointment so far.There's so much to take in when someone leaves no will isn't there.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Kateykrunch

Well, what an experience, I have had a solicitor from a local town at my door acting on behalf of a London solicitor, looking for me as a possible relation to someone who has passed away. She broke the news it was an elderly Aunt. I was quite shocked to say the least. (I knew of her but did not have any contact). The local solicitor wanted me to sign a letter giving the London solicitor permission to deal with the estate. I said I would need time to look into this. My Aunt, a spinster lived in a bedsit, there will be no big house to inherit. I am sad to learn of her death and it is so recent that I expect there has not been a funeral as yet. I know there are other cousins, one who was close to her, but the local solicitor said that the London solicitor are not (as not benficial) going to trace them. My Aunt was a devout Catholic and it was always said that she gave all her spare money to the Church. I will contact my cousin. Has anyone ever dealt with this situation.

I have had a firm call me this year about a cousin of mine who has passed away. They were an heirhunter company.

This sounds fishy to me as they have said they are not looking for the others. That's not how it works. No one should be cold calling you either on your doorstep.

The heirhunters in my case told me all about my family, names and so on and who else was entitled.

I would back off from this which I think you have already said your doing

mokryna.obviously I do not know the details, but asking to be awarded costs for legal action, is not the same as the Heir Hunters getting their agreed proportion of the estate for finding the heirs

I presume they thought that the legal action you had taken was ill founded and unnecessary and caused them unnecessary extra expense. Considering you won, I am not sure how they could justify this - and the judge clearly thought they couldn't.