Have been contacted regarding an unclaimed estate...is it a generic letter? 5 September 2022 at 2:00PM in Deaths, funerals & probate 8 replies 615 views

blueskied

Hello,

Am looking for some advice please.

I have received a letter from Anglia Research regarding my late fathers estate which has been published on the unclaimed estates governmental list.

Does anyone happen to know if this is a generic letter which they send out to all possible recipients of any unclaimed money or do they only bother corresponding if they know there is a certain amount of money waiting to be claimed? 
I am unsure whether this is a generic letter and therefore not worth my time.

We had lost contact so would be a bit surprised if there was anything left in the estate to be honest.

Slinky

From what I recall of watching Heir Hunters a goodly while ago, the value of the estate used to be published on a list, but then the system changed so the estate value is no longer listed. There could be a lot of value in it, or very little. You'll only find out by contacting the company, or, as my friend's family did, contacting the bona vacanta (sp?) list and dealing with the claim yourself.

Grumpelstiltskin

They are a genuine company.

Have  a look at this, if you download the list you may see his name.

Unclaimed estates list - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

blueskied

Thanks slinky,

I think its more that am unsure whether these companies send out generic letters without knowing the value of the estate first and are just taking a bit of a punt themselves or do they know its going to be worth it for them beforehand.

BriNylon

If you know the money is from your father’s estate there is no need to sign up.
Typically, how these companies work, is that they find an estate which is worth a certain amount, but there is no will or obvious near relatives.  The company find the next of kin and says to them “There is unclaimed money owing to you.  I am not telling you where until you sign up and we will take a percentage of what you get.”  All legally binding of course.  You could try to find out yourself but it would probably be difficult. 
If you know the money is from your father and you sign up, you are legally bound to give them a percentage as you have signed up.  But you know where the money has come form but you would still have to give them their cut.
So don’t sign, regardless of how much it is.

blueskied

BriNylon said:

If you know the money is from your father’s estate there is no need to sign up.
Typically, how these companies work, is that they find an estate which is worth a certain amount, but there is no will or obvious near relatives.  The company find the next of kin and says to them “There is unclaimed money owing to you.  I am not telling you where until you sign up and we will take a percentage of what you get.”  All legally binding of course.  You could try to find out yourself but it would probably be difficult. 
If you know the money is from your father and you sign up, you are legally bound to give them a percentage as you have signed up.  But you know where the money has come form but you would still have to give them their cut.
So don’t sign, regardless of how much it is.

Thanks for your reply,

so you don't think they'd bother sending me a letter without knowing it'd be worth their time?

It seems I can go through the government website after providing proof of my iD.

Slinky

blueskied said:

Thanks slinky,

I think its more that am unsure whether these companies send out generic letters without knowing the value of the estate first and are just taking a bit of a punt themselves or do they know its going to be worth it for them beforehand.

Yes I think it can be a case of them sending a letter without knowing what the value of the estate is.

Pennylane

My brother received a letter from a similar firm a few months ago. We didn’t recognise the name of the deceased. There were quite a lot of forms and questions and I suggested he rang them before he wasted his time. They told him it was his late mother!  He said I don’t think so, that’s not my mother’s name.  They blamed it on an over eager researcher and apologised.

John_Pierpoint

If you lnow the address where Farher lived when he died, the first step is to look it up on the Land Registry and if he owned "real estate" there is almost certainly a 5 figure sum involved, even if there is a mortgage company to be paid out first. I think that still costs £6 on-line to get the basic legal information and a plan of the land..

"Which" has publised three guides to the situation. The first one is called "What to do when someone dies".

Are there any other living relatives or their children, with a relationship as close as yours?
Step-children?