inheritance value

Davew1960

i have been contacted by a Heir Hunter ! I would like to know the value of the estate before i decide if i should pay the 20% they want to charge me ! i have found the details of death and unclaimed estate reference but not the value .
Is it possible to find value 1st .. or the address of the deceased .

Yorkshireman99

Davew1960 wrote: »

i have been contacted by a Heir Hunter ! I would like to know the value of the estate before i decide if i should pay the 20% they want to charge me ! i have found the details of death and unclaimed estate reference but not the value .
Is it possible to find value 1st .. or the address of the deceased .

If it was that easy the heir hunters would be out of business! The reality is that unless you have the expertise and time you are unlikely to be able to beat them at therir game. 20% is not an unreasonable fee for the work.

SevenOfNine

How much info can you lay your hands on regarding the deceased? Can you compile a family tree? Are you in touch with other family members who might also be beneficiaries? Have you looked at the Gov.UK site to see if making a claim yourself is within your capability?

Personally, I'd be trying to get as much info as possible from Heir Hunters BEFORE signing on the dotted line. Watched their programmes on TV many times & often wondered why more than 1 member of a family signs up.

At the very least remember they've already invested time & money tracing you so the ball isn't entirely in their court, they'd just like you to think it is!

Tell them you want to know the anticipated value of the estate & how many 'beneficiaries' they've already found. They already know the possible value, which is why they've taken on the search....they know it can make them some money, they don't bother with ones which aren't likely to bring halfway decent return.

I wouldn't be in a rush to agree a fee of more than 10% quite frankly, & in the meantime I'd volunteer absolutely NO info regarding other relatives though I'd make sure they knew if I had any. Don't let them see your cards so to speak. Let them establish YOUR entitlement for sure then agree a suitable fee before helping them find any/all others. Obviously NOT with a view to you getting the lot, that could get you into trouble

Yorkshireman99

SevenOfNine wrote: »

How much info can you lay your hands on regarding the deceased? Can you compile a family tree? Are you in touch with other family members who might also be beneficiaries? Have you looked at the Gov.UK site to see if making a claim yourself is within your capability?

Personally, I'd be trying to get as much info as possible from Heir Hunters BEFORE signing on the dotted line. Watched their programmes on TV many times & often wondered why more than 1 member of a family signs up.

At the very least remember they've already invested time & money tracing you so the ball isn't entirely in their court, they'd just like you to think it is!

Tell them you want to know the anticipated value of the estate & how many 'beneficiaries' they've already found. They already know the possible value, which is why they've taken on the search....they know it can make them some money, they don't bother with ones which aren't likely to bring halfway decent return.

I wouldn't be in a rush to agree a fee of more than 1% quite frankly, & in the meantime I'd volunteer absolutely NO info regarding other relatives though I'd make sure they knew if I had any. Don't let them see your cards so to speak. Let them establish YOUR entitlement for sure then agree a suitable fee before helping them find any/all others. Obviously NOT with a view to you getting the lot, that could get you into trouble

No heir hunter is going to accept such a ludicrously low fee as 1%.

PasturesNew

The problem here is that you don't know how many other heirs there are. You need to do the family tree to find out who has just died. But, by the time heir hunters get their hands on it, there's often a funny twist in the tale that you'd not know about. e.g. that your grandma had an illegitimate baby before her marriage to granddad and he was handed over to Molly across the road who didn't adopt him, but he used their name .... and he was an only child.

Or, it might be somebody who visited you when you were a child.

You might get lucky and find out who it was pretty quickly; or you might smash your head against a wall for weeks/months.

As you've found the death you've a head start. You know who you're looking for as the core to the tree.

As for value. Get their home address (easily done) and then look at it online to see if it looks rented or owned.

Heir hunters will typically take 1/4 to 1/3rd of the estate.... but you don't know if the estate's going to be divided by 3 or 30. But they don't usually get involved in small estates as the cost to have got to the point of phoning you is very expensive for them to take speculative punts for lower value estates.

You'll never know what's in their bank account though .....

paddy's_mum

In your shoes, I'd go with the heir hunters since I'd rather have a chunk of a substantial something than the major part of perhaps almost nothing - and all arriving in my lap without a moment of stress or effort.

If, in the end, you received only enough to have a week-long holiday in the Lake district, you would still be better off than you were the day before they contacted you.

Yorkshireman99

paddy's_mum wrote: »

In your shoes, I'd go with the heir hunters since I'd rather have a chunk of a substantial something than the major part of perhaps almost nothing - and all arriving in my lap without a moment of stress or effort.

If, in the end, you received only enough to have a week-long holiday in the Lake district, you would still be better off than you were the day before they contacted you.

I agree. The 20% rate might indicate that there is a decent amount of money in the estate as a whole but of course you can have no idea of what percentage you might inherit.

TonyMMM

Heir Hunters don't know the value of an estate until they start administering it - the rules were changed some years ago to reduce fraudulent applications. Now all they know is that it is at least enough to get on to the list (£5,000 I think).

That's why they look at the address to see if it is likely to be owned etc.

Davew1960

How can i get my cousins last know address ? without paying ?

Davew1960

Hi you say getting the last address is easy . on Bova vista it only says Town and date at death
How can i get my cousins last know address ? without paying ?

TonyMMM

Davew1960 wrote: »

Hi you say getting the last address is easy . on Bova vista it only says Town and date at death
How can i get my cousins last know address ? without paying ?

You do research like the heir hunters. It only takes seconds in most cases, there are plenty of sites that can help trace addresses for people, but few if any, (beyond BT directory enquires) are free. If all else fails, you buy a copy of the death certificate.

Heir hunters can pay out significant amounts in preparing cases with no guarantee of a return which is one of the reasons why they charge a fairly high percentage to beneficiaries.