DS Researchers Hull

[dawnsh]

which is why is suggested phoning the company.

It could be another relative.

Under the rules of intestacy in England and Wales, depending on the classification of the deceased person, the researchers can go back to the deceased person's grandparents, then look at all their children and if deceased, their children.

They don't work on the grandparents siblings.

The person they are researching could be a more distant relative.

[MattD30]

which is why is suggested phoning the company.

It could be another relative.

Under the rules of intestacy in England and Wales, depending on the classification of the deceased person, the researchers can go back to the deceased person's grandparents, then look at all their children and if deceased, their children.

They don't work on the grandparents siblings.

The person they are researching could be a more distant relative.

Good point, thanks for that. The one advantage of being a family historian is that you tend to accumulate lots of lists of names and dates of birth etc. I've compiled a database of all our relations and their dates of birth, baptism, marriage (if known),  and death (if known) or burial. I'll check the dates we have and the sources and go from there. Could they have the wrong details though?

[dawnsh]

Have the company given you the name of the deceased person they are researching and their date of death?

[Pennines]

If you look at that person on the Bona Vacantia list of unclaimed estates -- and tab to the right along that Excel Spreadsheet -- there is often additional information contained there that you cannot immediately see by just looking at the name section.

[alexanna]

Hi this is Anna from DSResearchers:

I note your comments, and what I would like to say if somebody is sceptical about letters they receive from ourselves or other companies they should call the company in the first place.  You will soon realise if the letter is genuine or a scam.

With regards to Matthew's listing, yes the Bona Vacantia has the wrong date of birth for the deceased.  This is currently going through administration and there are quite a number of relatives.

Anna

[alexanna]

..... in continuation:

With regards to people sorting out their own claims they should note:

1.  The purchase of the certificates or documents they may require might not be covered by the amount of money they receive back.
2. Under intestate law, they will need to find all the beneficiaries and prove them before the funds from the estate can be distributed.  If there is a significant amount and only a known hand full of beneficiaries are paid, then the personal representative may find themselves in court.

I hope this is helpful.

Anna

[Pennines]

Hi Anna,

I am the person who first started this thread, being unable to believe that an heir-hunting company were looking into a case relating to anyone connected with me! After raising the topic on this board I took the advice of Rootschatters and rang you. You will be pleased to know that I was immediately reassured that everything was above board.

I thought others may be interested in the outcome of this case.
The deceased lady was called Mary -- she was Irish and the eldest of 10 children. She had apparantly died in Eastbourne some years ago.
The mystery was - no-one in the family had ever heard of her. My father in law was always reminiscing about his life in Ireland - you could never shut him up (!) -- but Mary was never mentioned.

Unfortunately all of her generation had passed away - so theories abounded that she had become pregnant and run away from Ireland, or - as the eldest of 10 - had to be a 'little mother' to her siblings - and just revolted and left home. Was it a case of 'her name must never be mentioned in this house again'?

5 other siblings eventually settled in England - but Mary was never included, or mentioned, in family meet ups. She had never married.
We went alone on this case, figuring that it would not be worth much and there were 24 cousins!

Administratively it was hard work - we had to produce all sorts of evidence and send it to the Bona Vacantia people. Once they had 'ticked' the boxes on the first batch - we had to produce the next batch and so on and so on. Postage cost a lot as well, as we wanted to send each batch securely.

The estate was worth only £1,800 - and there were 24 beneficiaries. The bona-vacantia people also took out their costs. However we wanted to go through with it, out of interest, just to experience what these things involved.
One of the cousins went down to Eastbourne and was taken to where Mary's ashes were buried in the local cemetery - and we all have a photograph of her final resting place.

It just seems SO sad that this lady had family over here, but appeared to have been estranged for so many years. It was certainly an intruiging discovery -- and we would never have known abour her had we not been contacted by DS Researchers. So thank you Anna -- your company gave us - as a family- a most fascinating time.

Thank you also to everyone who gave me advice initially at the outset of this case.

Regards June

[alexanna]

Good to hear something came out of that case June, it is always good to hear that people are interested in the family history part of the case, because the money part is sometimes more disappointing.

Anna

[[Ray]]

There have been 2x similarly-named companies,

Comment regarding a previous post -
Up front, they do not have to tell you who(the case) that they are investigating.
If you sign up to have them work for you then expect to pay them a commission and you should also expect to pay a solicitor's fee (to them). Then and only then will they confirm the details of the estate.
They have already carried out sufficient research to align (but not connect) you with the deceased.
If, that is, their research was correct.
HeirHunters do not do this for free.


Back to this case . . . . . they may be working to exclude people.


Ray