Heir Hunters programme

I’m not expecting I should have put. Whoops!

I was contacted by 'Finders' back in 2010. There were seven families in line to inherit a share of £1.2 million from my late father's cousin who died intestate.

We each had a nice payout but I have to say lawyers acting on behalf of a woman who reckoned she would have been mentioned in a will if there was one (there wasn't) ran up a huge bill contesting our claim and there was nothing we could do about it or there would have been even more taken out of the estate. She was in poor health and one day we all had an e-mail saying she'd died.!! The whole process took three years so the real winners were the two legal teams. Finder's commission was £5,000 from each beneficiary.

I’ve been contacted this year and have signed away 15% of any share of an uncle’s estate but I’m not expecting much as he wasn’t a wealthy man.

I know someone who works on the legal team. That must be the place to be!

My family were benficeries of a small sum of money after being contacted by the Heir Hunters program years ago.

It was fascinating to see the Family Tree, which was extensive hence the sum was small, sadly my father was illegitimate and that was put against his name and it made me cry but dad had died by the time it was all settled and knowing him he would have shrugged his shoulders and said ' well it' s true isn't it '.

They really do have their work cut out to trace relatives but what an interesting job.

I'm with your Dad there POGS, its true and can't be changed so why worry. Times have certainly changed now.

I don't worry!

I was contacted about 15 years ago.

I Learned about family members previously unknown.

There wasnt a large fortune and spread over the other
beneficiaries my brother and I had a windfall of £100 each .

Yes the family trees are very interesting, POGS. There were 47 people on ours we'd never heard of.

Finders had taken two years to 'find' my two brothers and me because my paternal grandfather had abandoned his wife and child when my father was only three so he was brought up by his stepfather. When he joined the RAF at the beginning of the war Dad had his surname changed by deed poll as a tribute to the man who, although deceased by this time, had done so much for him.

It only came to light because at the time Finders were looking for us I'd applied for POA for my mother. My father's change of name cropped up in the application.

When I received the letter I nearly binned it because I was wary of it being a scam but when I read, 'Are you the daughter of ………. formerly...……' I realised it had to be genuine because hardly anyone knew of Dad's birth name.

The first words the woman said, when I phoned the number, was 'AT LAST!!'

Yes, merlotgran I felt the same scam wise because the original letter was to my DH who at the time had recently died. I rang one of his cousins and it was confirmed that although she had yet to receive a letter other cousins had received one.

I received mine just after my daughters death and als thoufht was a very sick scam

We also received a potted history of the deceased. It read like a Catherine Cookson novel and made us realise why the canny old devil had decided not to make a will and let the lawyers sort it all out.

He'd had a housekeeper who claimed to be his common law wife and insisted there must be a will hidden somewhere. She had an estranged son who suddenly returned from abroad when he thought there might be something in it for him. Well there would have been because she only had a few more months to live so he would have got the lot if her claim had been upheld.

We had a nail biting time praying that there wouldn't be a will discovered taped to the bottom of a drawer or under the floor boards especially when she claimed one of his houses was legally hers.

She appointed some expensive lawyers and their fee came out of the estate when she died but it was worth it because her greedy son went back to where he came from empty handed.

I received a legacy through these people.