Heir Hunter

I would stay well away from all of this, you are under no obligation to pay your Aunts debts or organise and pay for the funeral.
The reason they aren’t looking for any other relatives is because it would cost the Council money to find them and they might all tell the Council to get lost.
However if you want all of the relatives to chip in then I would get the Council to find them all for you and then try to get them to pay up. Sounds an unlikely outcome to me.

When DH inherited from a long lost relatve, the first thing he received was a letter from a solicitor in the area where she lived. She hadn't made a will and had no relations close enough to inherit under the intestacy laws, so the Solicitor was first drawing up a family tree.

He were approached, on the recommendation of another family member to help fill blanks on the family tree, which he did.

About a year later he had a cheque accompanied by a set of accounts. The lady was a great aunt of DH, whose existence he was unaware - £169 and a few pennies. Even in the mid 1980s, that wasn't very much.

I’m a retired solicitor though probate wasn’t my field. I can tell you that anyone who is owed money by a deceased person can apply for a grant to administer their estate if no-one else has. Therefore the home can do this (but of course they would rather you did it all!). They, or the hospital if she died there, can register the death too. There can be no funeral without the death being registered and whoever is keeping the body (hospital or undertaker instructed by the home or council presumably) will be applying pressure for this to be done. You yourself have no obligation to register the death, arrange the funeral or apply for a grant to administer her estate. It is possible that your Aunt simply stopped paying the home because she became mentally incapable of managing her finances - drawing money from her savings, writing cheques etc. The home will have paperwork showing if her assets exceeded her debts. If there is an excess then the council can seek to recover their costs relating to a funeral from the estate. Only if you have proof that there will be sufficient surplus funds after all this to make it worthwhile (sorry that sounds mercenary but you know what I mean) should you and the other cousins consider getting involved, over and above asking for a Catholic funeral mass and burial if that can be arranged by the council in conjunction with her Church.

OH NO Kateycrunch Can you find out if there is a property to offset the costs and whether or not the property value exceeds the care home costs? You might need to ask Citizens Advice for some help about where you stand legally. I hope that, after the care bills and funeral expenses are paid that you would be better off- and that if there's any way you would be financially crippled that you can find a way out.

Interesting comments, thank you. Further info is that the death has yet to be registered, the Heir Hunters had been Instructed to find descendants by the local council, as the care home did not know she had any relatives. I spoke to the council today and he wanted me to take on collecting the death cert, registering the death and organising the funeral. I am taking a pause to consider all this. I only ever met her once and will do what I can, but I am reeling with all the implications (see my Heir Hunter thread as well as there are ‘substantial’ debts for unpaid care home fees)..........

I was heir hunted by a company and received a share of a great uncle’s estate. Those companies are interested if the sum is large enough.

I’m not sure about solicitors so I would check them out, as others have said and also check the unclaimed estate list. You just can’t be too careful these days. I hope it all goes well for you.

I used to enjoy those programmes too Witzend. Sometimes they found after all their hard work the estate was worth very little (they had no idea until a claim was made), sometimes a will turned up and all their hard work was for nothing and the deceased hadn’t left anything to the hopeful relatives they’d turned up. I always wondered why people hadn’t made wills leaving something to helpful neighbours or to favourite charities. I think despite all the publicity people think making a will is inviting bad luck. But if you don’t have anyone you want to leave your worldly goods to, at least leave it to charity!

I wouldn’t assume that it’s dodgy, but obviously would do some careful checking first.

I used to enjoy the Heir Hunters programmes - some of the stories were fascinating - and didn’t see anything wrong with it. After all, if there was no will and no heirs were easily found, then ultimately all the money would go to the Treasury.

I did sometimes think it a great shame, though, when e.g. neighbours who’d been very good to the person for many years got nothing, while relatives who hadn’t even been aware of the person’s existence, or hadn’t seen or heard from them in decades, ended up with fat cheques. Or even slim ones.

Why on earth do some people never bother to make wills??

I thought it didn’t sound like a solicitor! The heir hunter firms get names of deceased persons from the Treasury Department’s Bona Vacantia (i.e. unclaimed estates) list, from newspaper death announcements and tip-offs. The Bona Vacantia list is updated I think weekly and you can view it online here assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1014404/UnclaimedEstatesList.csv.

If your Aunt’s name is there that’s probably where they got it from. You and your cousins can pursue a claim direct with the Treasury. It’s not difficult, though you would have to prove your relationship to her via birth, marriage and death certificates, and you would then receive between you all that she left. It sounds as though she might not have left enough to make it worthwhile asking a solicitor to help you, however you might have a pleasant surprise. Maybe she squirrelled everything away and lived very frugally. Good luck, sad but exciting at the same time.

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.

I should have added it was the PD agency who had tracked him down and the fee for them was paid by the solicitors out of the inheritance.

Around 20 years ago a former neighbour received a letter from a solicitors in London followed by a visit from I think a private detective agency. Both were genuine turns out he had a distant cousin who died without marrying and he had inherited everything. This included a house in London. All the agent wanted was proof of ID etc after that the Solicitors asked to see him. He got a small fortune after all debts were paid including the house.

Be careful in case it's a scam because unscrupulous people check to see who's died and then try to con their relatives.

Dottynan
Exactly the same as my daughters ex father in law.
He was contacted, told what the commission would be so took it on himself. Just short of £500,000 !!!

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

My Aunt in America died and within a few days I had three different people at my door asking me sign papers. They would take something like 30 or more percent of the amount I was to receive. I refused them all did my own research and received a 100 per cent of the inheritance. Don't rush to sign you can do a lot of research yourself.

Thanks for the replies, the companies are both authentic, but now I look at the paperwork properly (I didnt sign anything), both companies are International Probate Genealogists. It just seems bizarre that a Spinster who had no wealth would attract these 2 big companies! I have ascertained that no funeral has yet been arranged and that she lived in a Christian Charity Care home for the last 3 years. She passed away peacefully. The Father at her church tells me that the Council have taken over responsibility and that he is hoping her funeral can been sorted out soon as it has been a few weeks. Any more info from anyone who has encountered this sort of issue would be appreciated, thank you

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.

Sorry for your loss. If he was from local town, would be easy to check his details. There are legitimate firms that do this sort of thing, he should have left details if he was, and where to contact the firm.
www.heirhunteruk.co.uk/.

Wise words as usual Callistemon…?

I know someone who did, this was an aunt they had lost touch with. They decided to by-pass the solicitor and do their own investigations and they did inherit a property and money.

Do be very careful, it sounds rather dodgy that someone who claims to be a solicitor would come to your door and ask you to sign something. It could be a scam; they may have seen a bereavement notice in the paper.
Usually this would not happen so quickly and certainly not before the funeral. Yes, get in touch with your cousins.