Possible inheritance windfall

Ninnie

My mother has been contacted by Blanchard Inheritance Recovery, to say that she may be entitled to part of a deceased relative's estate. However, they want to charge 33% commission + vat to do so. :eek:

No details have been given of who the relative was and how much the inheritance may be and they also want proof of ID and a signed consent form BEFORE continuing.

Is there a way of finding out myself, to avoid being stung by commission fees?

Thanks in advance for any advice

Mojisola

Ninnie wrote: »

Is there a way of finding out myself, to avoid being stung by commission fees?

You could spend time researching her family tree and checking death records and then buy all the certificates necessary to prove that she is a relative and entitled to claim.

basil92

Mojisola wrote: »

You could spend time researching her family tree and checking death records and then buy all the certificates necessary to prove that she is a relative and entitled to claim.

Or failing that, take it for the scam that it most probably is.

(and I very much doubt the OP will return either..)

theoretica

Does your mother have siblings, or you cousins on her side? Now might be a good time to chat to them and see if they have been contacted too and are planning research.

Yorkshireman99

Ninnie wrote: »

My mother has been contacted by Blanchard Inheritance Recovery, to say that she may be entitled to part of a deceased relative's estate. However, they want to charge 33% commission + vat to do so. :eek:

No details have been given of who the relative was and how much the inheritance may be and they also want proof of ID and a signed consent form BEFORE continuing.

Is there a way of finding out myself, to avoid being stung by commission fees?

Thanks in advance for any advice

In theory yes but in practice very difficult. Heir hunters invest a lot of time expertise and money in researching unclaimed estates and only make any money if beneficiaries pay. You should try and negotiate the percentage down. It may be that the etsate is relatively small if they want that much.

Mojisola

basil92 wrote: »

Or failing that, take it for the scam that it most probably is.

They seem like a legitimate firm.

Scammers usually ask for fees upfront.

Yorkshireman99

basil92 wrote: »

Or failing that, take it for the scam that it most probably is.

(and I very much doubt the OP will return either..)

On what basis do you think it is a scam? There are plenty of respectables companies doing this kind of work.

Mojisola

You could see if any names ring a bell here -
http://bona-vacantia.com/

PasturesNew

If we assume it's true ... then they will have started from one of two points:

- the bona vacantia list
- a tip off, from a friend/neighbour, who's said "this person died and there are no relatives".

So, she could look at the bona vacantia list to see if there are any names that ring a bell.

But ... if you watch Heirhunters on the telly, you realise that those people are often untraceable to regular people. e.g. it might be, say, her grandmother's youngest daughter's grand-child from a second marriage. Or even a great-uncle's adopted child's child.

If she's on the bona vacantia list, others might also contact her - but that might take some time before they find her.

Difficult to know what to do. Check if they're reputable ...

I'd not pay more than 10%. But, if it's £2000 she'd get then they'll have paid more than £200 in certificates and staff costs to find her.

However, if there IS an estate, then she can't lose out by sitting on it for awhile... see if they offer a lower rate, or if others come looking for her.

Flugelhorn

The fact that you have been contacted by them implies that you didn't already know that a relative had died. In fact you may not have realised that this person existed at all - I realised had to work out how many first cousins my uncle and father had - it was 26 - I am fairly certain that neither of them were aware of most of them, there being a 40 year span from the oldest to the youngest. Tracking down family members can be hard if the surname is common.
The only way for you to do it yourself would be to do a Mojisola suggests - bear in mind you will have to buy a fair few certificates (£10 each). presuming that you can work out who it is who has died.
You may find that there are many potential beneficiaries and the amount concerned is not great - perhaps best to accept their offer and consider anything a bonus

PasturesNew

Flugelhorn wrote: »

... implies that you didn't already know that a relative had died. ...

On the other hand, I've seen on the telly where long-lost brothers had died. "My brother left home when he was 20 and we never heard from him again .....". A lot of people who came home after WW2 are dying now, a lot of them had troubles adjusting back to home life when they came back.

One thing is sure .... if there's a dead relative then other relatives will have had the same letter.

One route to take is to do your family tree and find your own family members and have a phone around to see if anybody's had the letter and if anybody wants to group together to try to sit down and work it out. Somebody might have the missing piece of the jigsaw of where to start.

The person they knew had disappeared... or nobody's heard of for years.

Of course, equally, I've seen young people who died and the programme Heirhunters tracked down their close relatives (cousins).

A lot of these people also tend to be only children of only children. So the heirhunters are then looking at the grandparents and going across the tree.

Also, foreign births. Did anybody in the family get married/go abroad at all? It could be "I think Mary married some American after the war .... never knew what happened to her".