Contact from Heir Hunter

Reg1988

Dear all - long time reader, first time poster and I know that you'll be gentle with me!

I have received a letter from an heir hunting company advising me that I am a beneficiary to an unclaimed estate and asking me to sign a letter that essentially appoints them as the estate's administrators and their fee will be 15% of the net value of the estate.

My brother and elderly aunt have also received the same letter and looking at the family tree it would appear that we are the 3 only beneficiaries.

I have not signed my letter and nor has my brother as I wanted to do some investigating to see if I could do it myself rather than pay for the heir hunter to do it. Unfortunately my elderly aunt signed and sent her letter off.

So my questions are the following:

• 1) If we are the only 3 beneficiaries and one of us has appointed the heir hunter, does this mean that in order to also get my entitled share I have to sign the letter?
• 2) Because the heir hunter has been appointed as the administrator by my aunt, the estate has been reduced by 15% already and so my share has been reduced by my aunt's actions?
• 3) Or is it only her share that has been reduced?
• 4) Because the heir hunter has been appointed by my aunt, if myself and my brother do nothing we should expect to hear from the heir hunter (who will, by my aunt's actions be appointed as the administrator of the estate) as beneficiaries? Or do we need to be proactive?

Apologies for so many questions. I have been in contact with Bona Vacantia estates and in order for me to do the claim myself I need a lot of info that I will not be able to get sadly.

Thanks to everyone who reads this post and hopefully it may help others too.
Reggie

Ganga

Reg1988 wrote: »

Dear all - long time reader, first time poster and I know that you'll be gentle with me!

I have received a letter from an heir hunting company advising me that I am a beneficiary to an unclaimed estate and asking me to sign a letter that essentially appoints them as the estate's administrators and their fee will be 15% of the net value of the estate.

My brother and elderly aunt have also received the same letter and looking at the family tree it would appear that we are the 3 only beneficiaries.

I have not signed my letter and nor has my brother as I wanted to do some investigating to see if I could do it myself rather than pay for the heir hunter to do it. Unfortunately my elderly aunt signed and sent her letter off.

So my questions are the following:

• 1) If we are the only 3 beneficiaries and one of us has appointed the heir hunter, does this mean that in order to also get my entitled share I have to sign the letter?
• 2) Because the heir hunter has been appointed as the administrator by my aunt, the estate has been reduced by 15% already and so my share has been reduced by my aunt's actions?
• 3) Or is it only her share that has been reduced?
• 4) Because the heir hunter has been appointed by my aunt, if myself and my brother do nothing we should expect to hear from the heir hunter (who will, by my aunt's actions be appointed as the administrator of the estate) as beneficiaries? Or do we need to be proactive?

Apologies for so many questions. I have been in contact with Bona Vacantia estates and in order for me to do the claim myself I need a lot of info that I will not be able to get sadly.

Thanks to everyone who reads this post and hopefully it may help others too.
Reggie

If you are unable to get the information to proceed any further is it not worth 15% to have it all sorted out for you as 85% of something is much better than 100% of nothing.

Rosieandjim

I have been in this position and did the work on behalf of relatives saving them a great deal of money. If there are only three of you and you are sure of this you could do this too. Just make sure that whoever takes it on sticks to the rules of intestacy and be sure to make sure all debts (via the Gazzette) are established.

iammumtoone

Put it this way until now you did not know you were a beneficiary of anything.


Don't the heir hunters deserve their 15%? If not for them you would get nothing at least you will now be getting 85%

TonyMMM

Your aunt can only agree to pay 15% of her share, not of the whole estate. Whoever the administrator is, they have to distribute according to the law of intestacy, so you will get your share in the end (or should). How big that share is depends on how many entitled beneficiaries are found, and at what level in the family tree you are ( there could be more than the three you know of).

(15% is actually quite low for an heir hunter to charge)

Sea_Shell

If Aunt has already signed, can you not now just sit tight and wait for eventual settlement of the estate. If you're due an inheritance, surely they have to deal with the whole estate, not just Aunts share?

badmemory

Unless you are confident that you know who the deceased was & there are no parts of the family tree you may have missed & that the amount is big enough to make it worth the work & costs of documents, then I would be inclined to go with the Heir Hunters. They've done the work you didn't even know you needed to do. 15% (plus 20% VAT??) cheap at twice the price.

Mojisola

Rosieandjim wrote: »

I have been in this position and did the work on behalf of relatives saving them a great deal of money. If there are only three of you and you are sure of this you could do this too. Just make sure that whoever takes it on sticks to the rules of intestacy and be sure to make sure all debts (via the Gazzette) are established.

If there are only three relatives, the Heir Hunters will have done the work to prove that none of the other lines have living heirs.

If Reg wants to avoid paying the HHs, he will have to repeat all that work with the associated costs to prove that there aren't other relatives entitled to a share.

It won't be enough to just get the evidence that the three of them are entitled.

theoretica

At the moment the heir hunters have one signature - so a promise of 15% of the aunt's share of the estate. If you and your brother (and any unknown to you heirs) don't sign they will need to decide whether it is worth doing all the work for only this smaller sum, or whether they will cut their losses and not do any more work.

Sea_Shell

theoretica wrote: »

At the moment the heir hunters have one signature - so a promise of 15% of the aunt's share of the estate. If you and your brother (and any unknown to you heirs) don't sign they will need to decide whether it is worth doing all the work for only this smaller sum, or whether they will cut their losses and not do any more work.

Ah, so they can still turn round to the Aunt and say "sorry, I know you've signed, but we've decided not to take on the case". In that event your Aunt may start putting pressure on you, to also sign, otherwise you might all get nothing.

So by not signing, you may be condemning your Aunt into not receiving any inheritance either. How close are you to your Aunt?

The HHs want multiple 15% of each persons share, with the best outcome (for them) is 15% of the whole thing at the end of the day.

Lots to think about, but it could be at the end of the day 85% of something is better than 100% of nothing. Maybe try and negotiate their fee....push for say 10%???

pandora205

How do you know there are only three beneficiaries? My siblings and I were contacted in similar circumstances and couldn't work out who had left money that we would inherit. It turned out to be our grandmother's brother's daughter and there were 30 beneficiaries. It turns out to be a complicated and interesting family and was featured on Heir Hunters. It is unlikely to be just three beneficiaries unless its an aunt or uncle or very close relative in which case you can do it yourself. The whole family tree has to be identifed with supporting certificates before the solicitor can distribute the estate.