Advice please

nikki702

Hi everyone, I wondered if someone can help here?

My aunt received a letter from some kind of heir hunter person stating that a relative has died and their is an estate to be claimed. She contacted them and needed to provide several documents.

It was my aunts (and my dads) mother's brother who had died but nobody in the family knew him . My aunts mother (my nan) has died and the only remaining relatives are my aunt, dad, aunts son, me and my daughter.

My aunt has asked me to find out if there is anyway of her claiming the estate (which is approx £5000) without having to pay loads of legal fees or a percentage to a company.

As you can probably guess by my post I am clueless about it all. So does anyone here know how?

Thank you

Miss_Havisham

Try contacting these people first, they publish the list of unclaimed estates every week, from which the heir hunters find their cases.

Treasury Solicitor's Office (BV) One Kemble Street London WC2B 4TS Tel. 020 7210 3116/3117/3239 Fax. 020 7210 3104 Email: bvinfo@tsol.gsi.gov.uk

The heir hunter companies are likely to charge you 25% or so, well worth trying to Do It Yourself. Good luck xx

nikki702

Thank you .. the claim is already proven. The letter says the Treasury Solicitor has no more interest in the case. They then said to let them know if she is instructing a firm of solicitors to deal with the administration of the estate.

She asked if there is anyway of doing it without using a solicitor?

Mojisola

nikki702 wrote: »

It was my aunts (and my dads) mother's brother who had died but nobody in the family knew him . My aunts mother (my nan) has died and the only remaining relatives are my aunt, dad, aunts son, me and my daughter.

My aunt has asked me to find out if there is anyway of her claiming the estate (which is approx £5000) without having to pay loads of legal fees or a percentage to a company.

The company will have spent time and money finding your dad and your aunt. Why shouldn't they get paid for that?

Dad and aunt wouldn't be getting any inheritance without the work done to find them so anything they get is a bonus.

Goldenyears

I agree with Mojisola. In your case I would just go with the heir hunting company. They have to prove to the Treasury they have found all the descendants of the deceased's grandparents, or at least made all reasonable efforts. Can you do that?

However, many beneficaries do take on their own case after being contacted. It depends how confident they are in their own family history and how much information the heir hunters have given away.

nikki702

Apparently its a person that contacted her not a company. My aunt is the person who has obtained all the relevant certificates. The lady who contacted her did not ask for a fee but will be given a small amount.

What my aunt wants to know is if there is anyway of claiming without using a solicitor? Thanks

daska

In theory yes, but she needs to obtain/trace all the details of the estate to handle it. She'll need a death certificate, bank details etc.