Long lost family member has died & there is no will.

L.S.D.

We have been contacted by one of the missing persons firms. We are main & almost certainly only family members. Is there a firm of solicitors that do a fixed rate to undertake all the work. We have been told to become administrators, how do we go about that?

Any advice would be welcomed.

Yorkshireman99

You need more information. Have they any dea of the estate value? What relation is the deceased? If there is value so one, usually the nearest relative can apply for letters of administration. You will be lucky to find a firm to do the work for a fixed rate. More likely to want a percentage of the estate value

Sevennotemode

As Yorkshireman says find out if there is any money in the estate before you get involved.

If there is no money you will end up paying for funeral costs.

You don't have to become administrators - it is your choice.

L.S.D.

There is a house without debt.

Sevennotemode

Why not apply for letters of administration yourself and gather the information as best you can and
so avoid solicitor's costs ?

It is not that complicated and there is lots of help available on here to guide you
along the way.

TonyMMM

You can do it yourself and apply for administration - you need to fully understand the intestacy rules about who may inherit, and make sure you have traced and accounted for ALL the potential entitled beneficiaries (and possibly their descendants if some have also died).

getmore4less

L.S.D. wrote: »

We have been contacted by one of the missing persons firms. We are main & almost certainly only family members. Is there a firm of solicitors that do a fixed rate to undertake all the work. We have been told to become administrators, how do we go about that?

Any advice would be welcomed.

If you know your relationship to the deceased you can confirm the pecking order of beneficiaries of an intestate estate.
Depending how distant the list can get quite big as you have to go down the blood lines.

if not you, inform(if you can) the person higher up than you.

If it is you alone then you can begin the enquiries to establish the inventory of the estate(assets and debts).
As there is a house you can start with that and see if you can get hold of any paperwork that might identify other assets and debts.

if the estste is solvent(enough to make it worth dealing with) then apply for Letters of administration.

if it is not you alone then best to involve the other beneficiaries before starting.

As there is property, one action that is worth considering anyway if you are the only contact so far is to check that it is secure and any usefull stuff like paperwork is safe.

Yorkshireman99

TonyMMM wrote: »

You can do it yourself and apply for administration - you need to fully understand the intestacy rules about who may inherit, and make sure you have traced and accounted for ALL the potential entitled beneficiaries (and possibly their descendants if some have also died).

It is anything but easy! That is why there are a number of professional heir hunters who have far more resurces and expertise than almost all individuals do. If there is value in the estate paying the fees to a reputable heir hunter is likely to be amuch better cours eof action.

Yorkshireman99

Sevennotemode wrote: »

Why not apply for letters of administration yourself and gather the information as best you can and
so avoid solicitor's costs ?

It is not that complicated and there is lots of help available on here to guide you
along the way.

To suggest that is is easy shows that you have no real expertise in this field.. If it was all the professional heir hunters would have long been out of business.

badmemory

Have you signed anything? If there is a house then are they heir hunters or have they been paid to do the research & if so who by? They will need to be paid by someone.

TonyMMM

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

It is anything but easy! That is why there are a number of professional heir hunters who have far more resurces and expertise than almost all individuals do. If there is value in the estate paying the fees to a reputable heir hunter is likely to be amuch better cours eof action.

I never said it was easy ...just that doing themselves is an option.

It is a lot of work and could be complicated to do .... which is why many heir hunters (and I know quite a few) charge 30% of the estate value or more for their work.