"Heir Hunters" TV program #2

[Wharfrat]

...The case in question was the school that closed down and the land (or money from the sale of the land) had to go back to the original family's descendants. This being the usual proviso during the Victorian Era when a rich person donated land for benefit of the poor, it prevented anyone selling up and pocketing the proceeds..

Thinking about the same case, but contrasting with what happens on many programs, a cousin of a deceased is traced but they are found to be dead themselves, so their children are then automatically heirs. Is any consideration given to the will of said cousin - e.g. they may have wanted all their money to go to the cats home (which is where mine is going!) rather than their children?

[Riojatinto]

Wharfrat,

If the cousin of a deceased is traced and they are themselves dead then what happens to that dead cousins share depends on their will.  Their children would only automatically be heirs if there is no will and no wife of the deceased cousin.  Of course, if the children are named in the will as the heirs then they may benefit. If there is a wife, the children may not benefit where there is no will depending on the size of the estate i.e. the wife gets everything within certain monetary limits.

 

[Wharfrat]

Thanx Riojatinto

I kind of thought that was the case, it just never seems to get mentioned in the programs...!

[LizzieW]

Thanx Riojatinto

I kind of thought that was the case, it just never seems to get mentioned in the programs...!

That's what I meant about the social history now being inserted into Heir Hunters sometimes getting in the way of information we might need.  Even non Rootschatters would like to know that type of info.

[mshrmh]

Wharfrat,

If the cousin of a deceased is traced and they are themselves dead then what happens to that dead cousins share depends on their will.  Their children would only automatically be heirs if there is no will and no wife of the deceased cousin.  Of course, if the children are named in the will as the heirs then they may benefit. If there is a wife, the children may not benefit where there is no will depending on the size of the estate i.e. the wife gets everything within certain monetary limits.

 

I think there's a confusion here. Most of the Heir Hunters programmes are cases where there is intestacy in England & Wales. In those cases the estate passes according to those rules alone. Wills of potential beneficiaries only become relevant if they have died after the intestate case, so that their share then passes according to their will. If they have died before the intestate case then the rules of intestacy are followed ie blood lines only (modified - including their legally adopted equivalents).

There have been a few cases (like the school land proceeds one),  which are not intestacy are and don't follow those rules.

[flipflops]

mshrmh beat me to it there have been several real surprises recently

 I was amazed that they glossed over the brother in Canada - more explanation would have been nice - ie insurance,

even more so about the solicitor going into liquidation and - hard luck - no will. You'd have thought there was some kind of provision for something like that from the Law Society or something.

then to cap it all (I record them too and watch in no particular orde)because the original will was lost, the Treasury rejected the copy held by the solicitor because the testator might have changed their mind and declared it to be intestate! they later relented, but phew.
I wonder if the central will registry has originals or copies?

[LizzieW]

then to cap it all (I record them too and watch in no particular order)because the original will was lost, the Treasury rejected the copy held by the solicitor because the testator might have changed their mind

My OH and I have what I assume are the originals of our wills (I might look at them later) and our solicitor has copies, but some people just leave their wills with the solicitor for safe keeping, so how can the Treasury reject a copy held by a solicitor in case the testator might have changed their mind.  If you change your mind you have to alter your will, (in which case surely the solicitor would have had either an up to date will, or an addendum to the original will) or the original one stands. 

To save us the bother of having to keep altering our wills they are made out that after one of us dies, everything goes to the survivor and after both my OH and I are deceased everything is shared between the children (named) and if any of our children pre-decease us then to their children (not named).  The solicitor suggested we didn't name the grandchildren or each time a new one was born we would have to go back and alter the will.

Lizzie

[Nick29]

I think there may be a little confusion over what is called a 'copy' of a will, because a will is only valid if it contains the names and signatures of the person making the will and the witnesses, and if the will post-dates others that exist.  So, a copy of a will is only valid if it is a duplicate of the will, and signed and dated as per the original.  As far as I'm aware, photocopies and copied made in other hands would not be valid.

[danuslave]

That's what I meant about the social history now being inserted into Heir Hunters sometimes getting in the way of information we might need.  Even non Rootschatters would like to know that type of info.

On the other hand, it's better than being told, in every single programme, that family trees are constructed from BMD certs and censuses!

I also get a bit fed up with

1)  the Heir Hunters getting frustrated because they can't contact someone by phone - it's not life and death, just their commission at stake

2)  the Heir Hunters telling us how clever they've been tracking someone down, when they've only applied the sort of logic we do all the time

I think the programme has reached a difficult stage, where it can't decide whether it's for beginners or people who know the basics

Personally

I like the social history bits

I would like less basic information

I'd like to see more loose ends tied up

Basically what everyone else has already said really   

Linda

PS It still has some really good bits every now and again!