General Chat

Is anybody able to assist? I have recently been advised that a member of my family unknown to me has died intestate and has left an estate to which myself and my 3 siblings are entitled to a share. The deceased next in line was my paternal mother (an only child) who passed away in 1998 so the estate has passed down to us 4, it suggests to me that this person died without having any living direct family, spouse or any living children if any at all. The party who has advised me of the death will not disclose the deceased name until I agree to sign an agreement with them after which they will inform me of the relative's name and the value of the esate, these leaches namely Hoopers are acting off their own back and want 33% of the final estate if I go forward with it, but I'll be damned if I'm going to give them a third of an inheritence which belongs to me and my brothers and sister when I can try and find out for myself who the deceased is or at least the family. I'll then make a claim with the Crown solicitor's therefore bypassing Hoopers. I have a copy of the intestacy list issued by the Crown but none of the names on it are familiar at all, I have been working through it all week as has my partner but are no nearer to finding out the deceased person's name. My solicitor has been great in advising me of the steps to take and I will continue to seek his advice but you guys out there may know a quicker way of discovering the deceased in question, and to this end I would welcome any help and tips that you may be able to offer.

33% sounds an awful lot....

Do you know the area of the country where death occured, or whether person was male or female?
....Just trying to cut down on choices.

It may be that your mother? was a half-blood relative, so look also at parts of the family where a 2nd marriage has occured. The deceased has to have had a shared bloodline somewhere though.

I know there is someone on the boards who successfully submitted their own claim, when they were approached by a company. Hopefully she will see your message and be able to offer advice.

Gwyn

I can't really advise but as Gwyn says 33% seems way over the odds..... try and do a bit of research into your mum's parents for possible aunts/ uncles/ cousins a surname might crop up that you recognise from the intsestacy list?

Plenty of people here to help if you need Ancestry look ups

Rose

If your mother was next in line, I would think she is possibly a niece of the person who died. Have you done your family tree in enough detail to know the names of all your grandparents' siblings, including who they married and who their children married? If you don't recognise any of the names in the Crown list, I would work on tracking all the females.

Hi Gwyn, many thanks for the quick response. Yes, 33% is extortionate but these leaches pray on people's ignorance, and I'm not one of these people. My solicitor is extremely angry at Hoopers and is in disbelief at the amount they want before disclosing a name. The full Crown intestacy list comprises of approx. 100 names none of which mean a thing to me, they are from all parts of the country and date back to 2000, I am assuming wrongly or rightly that the deceased is female but am keeping an open mind, I may be wrong.

Kind Rgds - John

Hi Rose, thanks for your response. I have many many names on my tree from my mother's side including aunts/uncles/grandparents etc etc. My partner and I are currently sitting here on our PCs researching like crazy for any further evidence of family not yet discovered. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something will smack me in the mouth at some time soon.

John

Hi Janice, thanks for your response. I have all my grandparents siblings names and I'm 99% certain the deceased comes from my grandfather's line. It's frantic in this household at the moment, names are flying everywhere...lol.

John

Hi Joan, yes I have seen this programme and will certainly keep in mind the extra information you have kindly supplied to me. In the meantime I'm cracking on with finding out for myself who the deceased is, 33% is extortionate isn't it?

John

1998 was quite a while ago in as much as it is likely to be a fairly distant relative, not an obvious one, if you have only recently been contacted.

Perhaps you could also research in reverse.....
ie. look at the 1998 deaths on your list and eliminate possiblities. You might be able to achieve a more-manageable list then.

Gwyn

Hi Smiffy, 33% is mad isn't it but it's here in the letter in black and white. Thanks for the suggestion of asking them to reduce the fee, I may well give them a call tomorrow and see what they say.

John

Thanks Joan, you are right, I may well call them tomorrow and set something up if I have no luck by midnight...lol.

John

This may sound silly but can your Member of Parliament help you.
Where I live MPs step in, Citizens advise bureaus help, and consumer affairs assist, plus department of internal affairs. I would be going down every avenue possible - we also have a television program called "Fair Go" who take on the big guys and often shame them etc into making payments to the Joe Bloggs of this world.

I agree with Smiffy - the bigger the inheritance the more you will lose in the long run.

Perse

Just a thought, but is it worth getting a subscription for 192.com or similar so that you can view the electoral registers for all these deceased people. Names of other people in their houses might give you some clues.

Was your grandfather married more than once, or father a child that wasn't his wife's? Trying to think of all scenarios!!

Thanks Janice, you're really sweet. I don't know 192.com? I'm chasing down all avenues including the avenue you have suggested :-)

John

I thought there were fairly tight rules about who can inherit in the case of intestatey, namely spouse, children, parents, brothers & sisters, grandparents, blood aunts and uncles (ie not people who married into the family). When an uncle of my mother's died my mother and her siblings inherited but not the children of the deceased sister, although I think in Scotland they could.

Yes 33% does sound a lot but...................... the search for heirs has obviously been going on for some time if the death occurred in 1998. There is also the fact that if Hoopers hadn't bothered to do the footwork you'd have lost 100% of the inheritence directly to the government and would have been none the wiser.

My Dad inherited a sum of money from his father's half sister's estate back in the 60's. It took the company two years to trace those entitled. Those were the days before it was all online and some of the people who were entitled had never set foot in the UK. Of course I have now found a whole bunch of others who also would have been entitled if the solicitors had had access to todays resources. I think the solicitors involved in my Dad's inheritence took about 30% in admin charges

Hi,

Just reading through your posting and I totally agree 33% is a riciculous amount to ask for this service......... however they have the name of the person and so it's seems to me at the mo that the ball is in their court.

Just a thought though.......... Hoopers want 33% of the estate, the estate is divided by 4, so lets just say for reasons sake the estate is worth £100'000.00, giving you a share of £25'0000.00 each... Hoopers are entitled to roughly £8250.00 of the 1/4 share.

Why not allow Hoopers to sign 1 of you up, therefore losing the £8250.00 and then you have a name to work with???

If you then reimburse £2062.50 back to the 1 person that signs them up all is fair????

Just an idea.............. would hate to see the Goverment get your money.


Dee xx

Hi Dee, this is what my solicitor has suggested and upon talking with my brother last night he has already signed the agreement and posted it off, he just sees ££££ signs and has given this case no thought whatsoever. He has also intimated that once he finds out who the deceased is he has no intention of telling me or my other siblings who it is, he's one of life's gold diggers I'm afraid however, this is OK as far as I can see since Hooper's will have to disclose his details to the treasury solicitor by law and then my brother will have to sign a declaration stating that he is not aware of any other beneficiaries, this would be a fraudulent action but I'm also lead to believe that Hooper's must also declare to the solicitor that they have traced other beneficiaries who have not responded to their letter ie. myself, and that they will write to me advising me of my share of the inheritence. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

John

Just a thought, why not got in touch with Fraser and Fraser and enquiry about their fee's. Another thought is why not try the BBC and see if they are filming another series of Heir Hunters and say you might be interested in taking part.