INTESTACY FAQ

We do not personally or as an organisation trace beneficiaries or lost relatives or engage in any form of genealogical, probate, or asset research.

However, we will endeavour to assist you with advice should you require. Please ask via the Contact us tab.

If you have received an e-mail out of the blue the chances are that it is a scam. A genuine Heir Hunter will usually, write, telephone or visit you in person.

There are some things you can do to ascertain the validity of someone who has contacted you.

First, do they use correct grammar, spelling and punctuation? Scammers are often not the most literate of people.

Second, use an internet search engine to check up on the company. Does it have a website? Does the e-mail on the website match the one you have been sent?

Third, are they asking you for money upfront? Genuine heir hunters will never do this.

Lastly, you can contact us to see if we know of the company or person.

Above all. trust your instincts.

In matters of intestacy relatives through marriage do not count, other than surviving spouses. Only blood relatives (or relatives who have been formally adopted) are entitled.

Yes. The Bona Vacantia Division of the Government Legal Department have rules on this matter. The two Duchy areas have identical rules.

See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/make-a-claim-to-a-deceased-persons-estate#overview

This states:

Claims will be accepted by BVD within, generally, 12 years from the date that the administration of the estate was completed and interest will be paid on the money held.

However, BVD will admit fully documented claims up to 30 years from the date of death, subject to no interest being paid on the money held, if the claim is received after the 12 year period above has run out.

Fully documented claims (including documents of ID and personal representative documents) must be received within 30 years of the date of death. If BVD receives a claim whether fully documented or not, outside the 30 year time limit it will not be considered. If an incomplete claim is received, you must supply the documents required to complete the claim within the 30 year time limit or the claim will not be considered.

Yes. While estate funds are with the government or the Duchies, interest is payable, but not in every circumstance; see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/make-a-claim-to-a-deceased-persons-estate#overview for a fuller explanation.

Monies held by other entities, such as banks, law firms, etc, should be held in interest-bearing accounts.

Yes. Everyone in a particular category of next of kin (i.e. siblings or cousins) has an equal share. This is the per stirpes system. Perhaps the deceased had four siblings, all of whom pre-deceased but leaving issue. The estate would initially be divided into four equal parts, but then each part would be divided between however many children the individual sibling had.

If there is no Will then according to the rules of intestacy the estate goes to the next of kin in this group order, and all of them within a particular group:

1. Husband, wife or civil partner.
2. Children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and so on.
3. Mother or father.
4. Brothers or sisters who share both the same mother and father, or their children (nieces and nephews).
5. Half brothers or sisters or their children (nieces and nephews of the half blood or their children). ‘Half’ means they share only one parent with the deceased.
6. Grandparents.
7. Uncles and aunts or their children (first cousins or their descendants).
8. Half uncles and aunts or their children (first cousins of the half blood or their children). ‘Half’ means they only share one grandparent with the deceased, not both.
The entitlement will only pass from one degree to another if there is no entitled relative surviving in the prior groups.
If the relationship to the deceased individual is traced through someone who survived the deceased but who has then since died, this relative's estate is entitled (as if the money or possessions due to them had already been theirs when they died) and it is either distributed as part of their own Will or their own intestacy (if they had no Will).

Put simply, an Administrator is a person whose job it is to gather in all the funds of the estate, pay all debts, and then distribute the funds to the entitled kin, making sure everyone who is entitled gets their share. It is the equivalent role of Executor. Both roles are covered by the generic name of Personal Representative (PR). Most PRs will hire a professional to undertake the work on their behalf, usually a law firm, who will then attend to all the administrative work and who are often referred to as 'the administrators', but strictly speaking they are 'acting for the administrator'.

Missing Beneficiary Indemnity insurance (MBI) is insurance to cover the risk that either a more closely entitled next of kin may come forward after the estate has been distributed, or that overlooked relatives of equal entitlement may come forward. An MBI policy protects against these risks, and can also be arranged to cover the possibility of a valid Will turning up in the future.

The Administrator arranges for the disposal or sale of any actual property. Personal or sensitive items should be dealt with by agreement with other relatives. Any money received forms part of the distributable estate.

Put simply, they are running a business and under their own initiative they have gone to the time and expense of conducting research to identify and locate you. If they reveal the name of the deceased before they have a finder's fee agreement with you, you will have no actual need to sign the contract and instead can make a claim yourself. This means they would receive no money from your share of the estate, ie no return on their investment. They are in effect selling you information that is unknown to you, so if they gave you the details beforehand they would have nothing to sell!

In a word, no. Data Protection forbids it. You may however ask the Heir Hunter or Administrator to see if a relative wishes to be put in contact with you. All responsible Heir Hunters will happily act as a go-between for relatives who wish to make contact with each other.

This is difficult to answer definitively as the research needed to locate everyone may be complicated by emigration or other difficulties, and the administrative work that may be required varies in size and complexity, especially if legal issues arise. Simple estates can be administered in a few months, whilst complicated ones have been known to take years. Expect a few months at least, but the Heir Hunter or Administrator will be able to keep you updated.

This is something you should organise with the particular Heir Hunter. While you are entitled to see the estate accounts you do not have an automatic right to a family tree and some people on it might not want their details shared. Data Protection is an issue here.

You do not have to use the services of an Heir Hunter. If you are entitled to an estate then you are entitled whether or not you sign up with an Heir Hunter. It is the responsibility of the Administrator of the estate to make sure all the entitled relatives are included, whether or not they have a contract with an Heir Hunter. However, the Heir Hunter has all the knowledge of the source of the unclaimed funds and all the required information that you will need to make a claim, so there is a good argument that signing a finder's fee agreement will save you the time and expense of trying to deal with it yourself.

To make a claim yourself for an English or Welsh estate see the government website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/make-a-claim-to-a-deceased-persons-estate#overview

The usual way is for them to receive a percentage of any share that you receive. This is often around 10%-20% but it can be higher - maybe as high as 33% - if it's a very difficult case that has defeated other researchers, or much lower - 2%-5% - if it's a simple case of high value and a number of Heir Hunters are competing for your signature. They only receive any money if you get a share. Nothing is payable if you receive nothing from the estate. Basically, you are engaging them to make a claim on your behalf in return for which they receive a percentage of your entitlement. If the claim fails no one gets anything. They should not charge you expenses. This should all be stated in any contract you sign. If it isn't, query it.

They should not be. The full cost of making a claim on your behalf should be made by the Heir Hunter as part of their business expenses. If they receive a percentage of your share then any expenses should come out of that, not be on top of it. This should be stated in any contract you sign. If it isn't, query it. If any research expenses are shown as payments in the estate accounts, query it.

No. You should not be liable for any expenses. This should be stated in any contract you sign. If it isn't, query it.

Illegitimate children, or children adopted in, have the same rights as a full blood relative. Children adopted out of the entitled family are not entitled as they then belong to a different family.

The Bona Vacantia Division of the Government Legal Department have rules on these matters.

See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/make-a-claim-to-a-deceased-persons-estate#overview

This states:

Illegitimacy (when a child is born to parents who were not married at the time of his or her birth and they did not subsequently marry) as a bar to intestate succession was removed by the Family Law Reform Act 1987. This means illegitimacy is irrelevant if someone dies on or after 4 April 1988 and their estate can be claimed by those relatives defined by the Administration of Estates Act 1925 whether they were illegitimate or not.

If a deceased person died intestate before 4 April 1988 and was illegitimate, the only persons who are entitled to share in their estate before the Crown are their spouse, children (or their descendants) and parents.

Adoptions
Only adoptions made by Court Order under the Adoption Act (or foreign adoptions recognised by English law) have any legal effect for the purposes of succession. Such an adopted person becomes, for the purposes of succession, the child of his or her adoptive parents and ceases to have any interest in his or her natural family. Legal adoptions have been possible only since 1 January 1927.

This is actually a good thing for you. Both want your business, so you can try to negotiate the percentage fee that they are seeking.

The Heir Hunter will need to gather in documents (such as birth or marriage certificates) if they have not already done so, to prove your relationship to the deceased and some identity documents (such as a passport or utility bill) to prove you are who you say you are. BVD are only interested in seeing evidence for one claimant as from their point of view the crux of the matter is whether someone is entitled to the estate in priority to the Crown. Once the claim is accepted the normal probate process begins in which the funds are gathered in by the Administrator. However, if it's an extensive family leading to, for example, many cousins once and twice removed, there may still be much research to be undertaken.

Put simply, an heir is someone entitled to either the whole estate (money and property) or part of the estate, of a person who has died.