Found by an heir hunter

Sea_Shell

madbadrob said:

Sea_Shell said:

madbadrob said:

Reed_Richards said:

Thank you, @madbadrob, that is hugely helpful.  As the HH company has also contacted my sister then it's very useful to know that only one of us needs to sign.

Your very welcome however is it fair if your sister signs and you dont as she will receive less than you if the case is progressed by the HH company?

As before if I can offer any more help dont hesitate to contact me

Rob

If siblings are on good terms, could you agree between you that just one of you signs but then you split the commission deduction between you?

So if the signee gets say £100 less, the other agrees to give them £50... unofficially 😉

Sea_Shell said:

madbadrob said:

Reed_Richards said:

Thank you, @madbadrob, that is hugely helpful.  As the HH company has also contacted my sister then it's very useful to know that only one of us needs to sign.

Your very welcome however is it fair if your sister signs and you dont as she will receive less than you if the case is progressed by the HH company?

As before if I can offer any more help dont hesitate to contact me

Rob

If siblings are on good terms, could you agree between you that just one of you signs but then you split the commission deduction between you?

So if the signee gets say £100 less, the other agrees to give them £50... unofficially 😉

Of course they could but id argue if that is indeed fair on the HH company that as done a lot of work in tracing the family?  At the end of the day this is money they didnt know about prior to the contact by the HH company so its all a bonus.  (yes of course as this is my business I am going to say that)

We all know though how when money comes through the door the devil is not too far behind them 

Rob

I would have thought HHs factor that in to their commission charges, that they may only get one or two signees, per estate, rather than almost everyone.

Anything else is just gravy.

silvercar

madbadrob said:

Sea_Shell said:

madbadrob said:

Reed_Richards said:

Thank you, @madbadrob, that is hugely helpful.  As the HH company has also contacted my sister then it's very useful to know that only one of us needs to sign.

Your very welcome however is it fair if your sister signs and you dont as she will receive less than you if the case is progressed by the HH company?

As before if I can offer any more help dont hesitate to contact me

Rob

If siblings are on good terms, could you agree between you that just one of you signs but then you split the commission deduction between you?

So if the signee gets say £100 less, the other agrees to give them £50... unofficially 😉

Sea_Shell said:

madbadrob said:

Reed_Richards said:

Thank you, @madbadrob, that is hugely helpful.  As the HH company has also contacted my sister then it's very useful to know that only one of us needs to sign.

Your very welcome however is it fair if your sister signs and you dont as she will receive less than you if the case is progressed by the HH company?

As before if I can offer any more help dont hesitate to contact me

Rob

If siblings are on good terms, could you agree between you that just one of you signs but then you split the commission deduction between you?

So if the signee gets say £100 less, the other agrees to give them £50... unofficially 😉

Of course they could but id argue if that is indeed fair on the HH company that as done a lot of work in tracing the family?  At the end of the day this is money they didnt know about prior to the contact by the HH company so its all a bonus.  (yes of course as this is my business I am going to say that)

We all know though how when money comes through the door the devil is not too far behind them 

Rob

There is always the risk that the HHs won't consider a payment of an X% share of a £Y estate divided amongst Z inheritees sufficient compensation for doing the work and back out. There is also the risk that having been alerted to the fact there is an inheritance floating around, anyone does their own work in tracking it. 

Both scenarios are presumably within the HH's business model.

RAS

There was a TV programme some time ago where different companies where basically rushing to sign up people before the competitors got to them.

madbadrob

silvercar said:

madbadrob said:

Sea_Shell said:

madbadrob said:

Reed_Richards said:

Thank you, @madbadrob, that is hugely helpful.  As the HH company has also contacted my sister then it's very useful to know that only one of us needs to sign.

Your very welcome however is it fair if your sister signs and you dont as she will receive less than you if the case is progressed by the HH company?

As before if I can offer any more help dont hesitate to contact me

Rob

If siblings are on good terms, could you agree between you that just one of you signs but then you split the commission deduction between you?

So if the signee gets say £100 less, the other agrees to give them £50... unofficially 😉

Sea_Shell said:

madbadrob said:

Reed_Richards said:

Thank you, @madbadrob, that is hugely helpful.  As the HH company has also contacted my sister then it's very useful to know that only one of us needs to sign.

Your very welcome however is it fair if your sister signs and you dont as she will receive less than you if the case is progressed by the HH company?

As before if I can offer any more help dont hesitate to contact me

Rob

If siblings are on good terms, could you agree between you that just one of you signs but then you split the commission deduction between you?

So if the signee gets say £100 less, the other agrees to give them £50... unofficially 😉

Of course they could but id argue if that is indeed fair on the HH company that as done a lot of work in tracing the family?  At the end of the day this is money they didnt know about prior to the contact by the HH company so its all a bonus.  (yes of course as this is my business I am going to say that)

We all know though how when money comes through the door the devil is not too far behind them 

Rob

There is always the risk that the HHs won't consider a payment of an X% share of a £Y estate divided amongst Z inheritees sufficient compensation for doing the work and back out. There is also the risk that having been alerted to the fact there is an inheritance floating around, anyone does their own work in tracking it. 

Both scenarios are presumably within the HH's business model.

yes we do factor into the comissions we charge the possibility that some cases we will not sign every heir and as such we need to make sure our costs are recovered at the very least.  That however is not my point in making the comment I made.  What an entitled hair does with the money after receiving it is of course their own businessand if that means 2 sisters want to spread the cost of the commission they are so entitled to.  My point was made as a reminder of the risks involved because as I say money can be the start of a breakdown of family ties.  In fact you only have to read threads on here where pone sibling is fighting with another over inheritances.

madbadrob

RAS said:

There was a TV programme some time ago where different companies where basically rushing to sign up people before the competitors got to them.

Yes it was called Heir Hunters and is being repeated at the moment on More4 or one of the channels run by Channel 5.  This program was a great intorduction for many into this industry and what occurs.  It also led to many small companies like my own coming into the industry. ( I started not many months before HH hit the TV)

The biggest thing it did was to cause the commissions being charged to fall drastically and showed entitled heirs where they could find these cases.  When the program first aired in 2007 we knew the value of the estates we was working so we could factor the costs into the commissions we charged (some were charging as high as 40%) However after a rather large scale fraud was uncovered (not linked to the show) the Treasdury Solicitor asked the big companies how they would feel not being given the values and a trial went a head for one year.  At the end of the trial TSoL and the big comapnies agreed that there was no real value in sharing the probate values and this minimised the risk of fraud.  We can still work out a rough estimate of estates but these are guesses based on certain factors.
My biggest issue with the program was how it told a story over how much work and the legal side of what must be done after a case as been recovered from the treasury.  There are cases I am aware of where families have gone their own way with claims and then not located all heirs or deliberately tried to ignore them.

Finally for those readingdont forget that not all cases that we work are from the BV list so they wont find out who the deceased was

Rob

Reed_Richards

Sea_Shell said:

madbadrob said:

Reed_Richards said:

Thank you, @madbadrob, that is hugely helpful.  As the HH company has also contacted my sister then it's very useful to know that only one of us needs to sign.

Your very welcome however is it fair if your sister signs and you dont as she will receive less than you if the case is progressed by the HH company?

As before if I can offer any more help dont hesitate to contact me

Rob

If siblings are on good terms, could you agree between you that just one of you signs but then you split the commission deduction between you?

So if the signee gets say £100 less, the other agrees to give them £50... unofficially 😉

Of course that is what we would do, if it ever came to it.  And of course the HH company deserves a due reward.  But should this reward should be a percentage of the entire value of the estate?  If the estate is worth ten thousand pounds or ten million pounds, the amount of work they do will be the same.  

madbadrob

Reed_Richards said:

Sea_Shell said:

madbadrob said:

Reed_Richards said:

Thank you, @madbadrob, that is hugely helpful.  As the HH company has also contacted my sister then it's very useful to know that only one of us needs to sign.

Your very welcome however is it fair if your sister signs and you dont as she will receive less than you if the case is progressed by the HH company?

As before if I can offer any more help dont hesitate to contact me

Rob

If siblings are on good terms, could you agree between you that just one of you signs but then you split the commission deduction between you?

So if the signee gets say £100 less, the other agrees to give them £50... unofficially 😉

Of course that is what we would do, if it ever came to it.  And of course the HH company deserves a due reward.  But should this reward should be a percentage of the entire value of the estate?  If the estate is worth ten thousand pounds or ten million pounds, the amount of work they do will be the same.  

I agree which is why when I do these I stipulate the commission is reduced per bandings. Remember at the time of the contract being signed the estate value is not known and at best we have a guesstimate of the estate value.  Lawyers for example would charge per hour for the work if you instrutced them to do this for you and in many cases i can be certain that we would charge far less on the commission based system.  So when I send contracts out my commission is set at x% of the share per person agreeing to my obtaining and distribution of the estate.  If the value of an estate reached Y value that x% is reduced to refelect the value of the estate.  Im not in this business to get rich quickly but I do need to make money in excess of the estate costs.  I dont believe losses on one estate (yes they do happen when we guesstimate the estate wrong) should be covered by someone elses estate.  

The issue as I see it with the industry in general is one of the lack of knowledge by beneficiaries of the time involved in research, signing up, presenting the required evidence to pass to the treasury,preperation of the papers required in  obtaining a secondary admon if this is required by the Treasury and the time in preparing the statuotory notices.  Even a simple case can result in 50 to 100 man hours.  So for example if the estate you have an entitlement to is worth 10k and there are 10 heirs.  If the commission was 10% and assuming every heir signed to the HH company they would get around £1000 for the work they have carried out.  Now if of those 10 people 5 decided to do as you are considering then that £1000 becomes £500.  So using the lower end of the hours used to reach the pay out stage the heir hunting company is getting £10 an hour which is significantly lower than the minimum wage.  Out of that 500 pounds they have the usual costs of any business so in reality your estate is then worth approx £400.  That would be a loss in real terms to the HH company.  Yes that is the risk they take but it is also the reason why they charge high commission rates. 

So whilst I agree with you and support your right to obtain your share in the way you look to have decided please do bear this in mind as well. 

Before you make that final decision contact the HH company and ask them if they would be prepared to drop the rate of commission if the estate was to reach a certain threshold for your signature.  If they want your business and recover their costs I dont see why they wouldnt agree with you.  At least this would mean more money to you should the estate be of a high value and would allow the HH a decent return of their time spent.  

Rob

boingy

silvercar said:

There is also the risk that having been alerted to the fact there is an inheritance floating around, anyone does their own work in tracking it. 

That would be me. Give me the merest hint of an unexpected inheritance and I'd go to the the ends of the earth to "solve the puzzle" myself rather than involve a third party, and not just from a financial viewpoint. In fact, it would amuse me to find that, after months of sleuthing, the "prize" is a couple of hundred quid.

madbadrob

boingy said:

silvercar said:

There is also the risk that having been alerted to the fact there is an inheritance floating around, anyone does their own work in tracking it. 

That would be me. Give me the merest hint of an unexpected inheritance and I'd go to the the ends of the earth to "solve the puzzle" myself rather than involve a third party, and not just from a financial viewpoint. In fact, it would amuse me to find that, after months of sleuthing, the "prize" is a couple of hundred quid.

Of course but not every case is on teh BV list.  We do get work direct from solicitors before they get passed to BonaVacantia so you would never find the deceased until the solicitor had had enough and passed it over.  Also estates have to be solvent and with a minimum of 500 pounds.  Finally you wouldnt get the value until you claimed it and then you would have no choice but to try and find all other entitled heirs.  Even for us this is not easy although we do have access to databases you dont and these do tend to find 90 percent of all we are looking for.

Rob