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Topic: Heir hunters (Read 1837 times)
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Annie65115
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 606
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Does anyone have any info on the forthcoming series of this?
Does anyone know what day/time/channel it goes out on?
I've heard through the grapevine that one of the branches of my family tree is to be featured (they didn't look hard enough, they didn't find me! pah!) and as I never watch TV, I'm going to miss this unless I know just when to look out for it!
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Bradbury (Sedgeley, Bilston, Warrington)
Cooper (Sedgeley, Bilston)
Dyer (Stathern, Leic, Notts, Yorks)
Kilner (Leic)
Greenfield (Liverpool)
Holyland (Leic)
Pryce/Price (Welshpool, Liverpool)
Tidd (Grantham, Notts)
Hallam (Screveton)
Partrick (Vera and George, Leicester)
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Annie65115
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 606
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"BBC iPlayer" - er, how? Is that via my computer (as I've previously done to watch WDYTYA)?
Apart from the computer, I live in a very low-tech household.
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Bradbury (Sedgeley, Bilston, Warrington)
Cooper (Sedgeley, Bilston)
Dyer (Stathern, Leic, Notts, Yorks)
Kilner (Leic)
Greenfield (Liverpool)
Holyland (Leic)
Pryce/Price (Welshpool, Liverpool)
Tidd (Grantham, Notts)
Hallam (Screveton)
Partrick (Vera and George, Leicester)
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cad
RootsChat Member
Posts: 112
Poethlyn, Grand National winner 1918 and 1919
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"BBC iPlayer" - er, how? Is that via my computer (as I've previously done to watch WDYTYA)?
Apart from the computer, I live in a very low-tech household.
Hi Annie,
Yes, you access the iplayer through the BBC website, there are no episodes of "Heir Hunters" on there at the mo as they are available for up to a week after transmission- roll on June eh?
Good series, the money aspect is a bit (for want of a better word) vulgar, but some fascinating and moving stories turn up and good tips for family historians. Watching this made me realise what my dream job would be.
Cad
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Wiltshire: Cainey, Summers, Payne
Somerset:Wallis,
London: Binden, Sullivan, Tickner, Tilt
Ireland: Tracey, Sullivan, Dalton
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Candolim_Imp
RootsChat Senior
Posts: 324
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A friend of ours was featured on the first series of this, which is how we got to hear about it. One thing I noticed was that they seemed to have less expertise than your average amateur genealogist!!
In our friend's case, they made some basic (inaccurate) assumptions that cost them a lot of time, such as failing to check if the father of the deceased had married a 2nd time. This was all on FreeBMD and could have been easily tracked down in a matter of minutes.
As a result of watching this, I'm not convinced that such companies are really identifying the nearest relatives in many cases... They very nearly missed the fact that our friend was the half sister of the deceased, because speed was so much more important than accuracy.
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Hodge; Southport, Lancs
Pugh; Salop, Liverpool
Hulm; Bootle, Southport
Guildford; Liverpool
Clausen; Denmark, Liverpool
Yapp/Yopp; Salop
Marshall, Rimmer, Howard, Johnson, Jackson; Southport
Bury; Heref, Herts
Dady; Norfolk, Southport
Colebourne; Liverpool
Small; Barbados, Liverpool
Murray; West Indies, Liverpool
Williams; Africa, Liverpool
Jenner; Glos
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cad
RootsChat Member
Posts: 112
Poethlyn, Grand National winner 1918 and 1919
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A friend of ours was featured on the first series of this, which is how we got to hear about it. One thing I noticed was that they seemed to have less expertise than your average amateur genealogist!!
I know what you mean Candolim, quite alarming when you consider most of these guys seem to be ex-coppers! 
I remember one particular programme where they ran with a hunch, made up an entire tree, tracked down and met relatives- I think they hadn't noticed a previous marriage which had produced a child, by the time they noticed, another firm had got in touch with the true beneficiary.
I do find many of the stories they uncover interesting though and useful in a way, you can't help but transpose some of these tales to your own black sheep and brick walls, after all these are true stories of people who for whatever reason withdrew from society.
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Wiltshire: Cainey, Summers, Payne
Somerset:Wallis,
London: Binden, Sullivan, Tickner, Tilt
Ireland: Tracey, Sullivan, Dalton
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Nick29
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 2871
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As a result of watching this, I'm not convinced that such companies are really identifying the nearest relatives in many cases... They very nearly missed the fact that our friend was the half sister of the deceased, because speed was so much more important than accuracy.
Well, that may apply to the smaller outfits on the Heir Hunters programme, but I'm sure that it does not apply to Fraser & Fraser.
I've seen instances on these programmes where Fraser and Fraser have actually told the beneficiaries exactly who it was that had died without trying to get them to sign anything, because they knew that the beneficiaries would have guessed who it was anyway. Considering that F & F don't get paid unless they get commission, then that was a very generous thing for them to do.
Unfortunately the tactics of some of the smaller companies are getting the whole heir hunters industry a bad name. Some of the cowboys in the business will deliberately not find a close relative, because they know that the heirs will guess who it was that died. I know that because I'm currently engaged in legal action to recover money that was paid to distant cousins, because the cowboy firm that dealt with the case didn't want to find closer relatives. Neil Fraser from Fraser & Fraser sometimes posts here, because he is keen to show that the bigger companies in the heir hunters business do behave in a professional and moral manner.
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Best Wishes, Nick. Research interests: Field - Luton & Islington Hole - Somerset, Suffolk & Surrey Farnish, Parker, Cattermole, Last, Wasp, Church - Suffolk Lewin/Lowin/Lowen - Hertfordhire Martin - Eltham & Greenwich, Kent (London) Stead - Greenwich, London (Kent) & Maidstone Wood - Hertfordshire Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
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Candolim_Imp
RootsChat Senior
Posts: 324
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I wasn't implying that the error was in any way deliberate to secure commission.
Our friend's father had a first, childless, marriage and lost his 2nd wife shortly after their child was born... personally, I would have instantly considered the possibility that the father married a 3rd time, and would've been one of the first things I'd have checked before searching for cousins.
The firm (I don't know which one) spent a considerable length of time tracing cousins, and even informing them of the death & possible inheritance, before realising that there had been a 3rd marriage with subsequent children.
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Hodge; Southport, Lancs
Pugh; Salop, Liverpool
Hulm; Bootle, Southport
Guildford; Liverpool
Clausen; Denmark, Liverpool
Yapp/Yopp; Salop
Marshall, Rimmer, Howard, Johnson, Jackson; Southport
Bury; Heref, Herts
Dady; Norfolk, Southport
Colebourne; Liverpool
Small; Barbados, Liverpool
Murray; West Indies, Liverpool
Williams; Africa, Liverpool
Jenner; Glos
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FraserandFraser
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 2
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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So much talk, thanks Nick for the very nice comments, I hope you are able to recover what is rightly yours.
I had come on-line to say that the new program comes out on 29th of June @ 9.15 am on BBC1 but will take a little time to answer a few quires
One of the main problems with this industry is that it is totally un-regulated and some time you can deal with firms that really are "cowboys" as Nick described them.
Most larger firms take out insurance policy's to cover heirs comming forward after an estate has paid out. F&F have only had 1 claim on a policy in our 40 year history, in a case when we highlighted that we couldn't find an heir the had emigrated but no one knew where.
There are records released all the time, anyone who has been searching family history for a while will remember the first time they found FreeBMD and remember that just 4 or 5 years ago it really had very few records now pre 1900 is very good, so just because a record is there now doesn't mean it was 5 years ago.
It is true that often we do go too quick for our own good and can miss what in hindsite seems obvious, however we usually find it as some stage, hopefully not too late.
The Ex-coppers we have on the road are mainly to interview heirs, what person is more qualified to do such a task I am at a loss, a Police man has received training in interviewing, enquiries, investigations and not least telling some one about the fact a family member has passed away. They are not sales men and don't get paid on commission so the heir should never feel under pressure.
The research that is mainly conducted in the office is overseen by a manager some with 40 experience in this type of work, in fact I am the least experience case manager and I have been here for 11 years. so "they seemed to have less expertise than your average amateur genealogist!!" seems a little harsh.
One thing that we do is work several diffrent things at the same time, near kin, cousins and even children of the dec, it is often quicker to find a cousin than some one closer and we may contact them only for them to say that there was a 3rd marriage that produced 2 children. As in tha case you are quoting, in this case 4 firms worked the family and we were the only ones to find the real heirs. The searching for a 3rd marriage is not the obvious thing to be done infact most people of that time were only married the once.
"In their haste to submit claims, a "large" company (I won't name them but know who they are) traced cousins and got them to sign up. It was some considerable time later that another company traced the "correct" relatives - it wasn't difficult just a glitch in the GRO indexes and had they bothered to ask all the cousins about other relatives rather than being more interested in swiftly signing them up (possibly afraid to reveal who the deceased was) the former company could have swiftly identified the correct heirs." I am not sure who this refers to but don't think it was us.
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FraserandFraser
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 2
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Totally agree I have said for a long time that regulation is the way forward.
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