Heir Hunter

Malthusian

If by "great-great-grand father's relative" the OP means "sibling" then it's entirely plausible. Any direct descendant of that person who did not have living ancestors between them and the loot would be eligible.

CalumFinnerty

Hi everyone

We've just had a call-back from the company.

They now claim the relative died in the early 1990s. The first letter clearly stated they were my great-great-grandfather's cousin.

They now claim there are over 50 heirs. The first letter clearly stated there were only 3 heirs.

When asked about the size of the estate, as someone in the comments suggested, he was not clear and would/could not give a precise figure.

When asked whether all the relatives had got back in touch after they had contacted them, he said he was uncertain.

The estate was for someone who lived in London.

CalumFinnerty

Malthusian - thanks for taking the time to reply.

In the letter, the word used was cousin rather than relative.

Perhaps the letter is simply bady written and the branch of the family tree stems from that relative?

getmore4less

Cousin is very generic, we tend to think of it as close but it is everyone not covered by the other familiar terms.
First stab at finding a tree. 
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/help/kinship-terminology-how-we-refer-to-our-family-relationships

Flugelhorn

sounds like one of the more complex estates, 20+ years old and a not unexpected number of heirs. Surprised that you get anything from an heir that distant under intestacy but one hopes they know what they are doing.  
depends what you want out of it - a case like that would cost you a packet to research, would need to purchase lots of birth and death certs at £7 a time (for the older ones anyway) - might be worth just settling for the cheque they have sent you

onwards&upwards

At this point I think I'd just cash the cheque, see it as a nice unexpected bonus and get on with my life if I were you. 

pattycake

onwards&upwards said:

At this point I think I'd just cash the cheque, see it as a nice unexpected bonus and get on with my life if I were you. 

A windfall of £4,450 you knew nothing about. Why fret about wanting it to be more. Let it go.