Finders UK Announce Worldwide Bankruptcy Search Service

In the case of intestacy there are many hurdles between starting the search for beneficiaries and final distribution of the estate to the entitled heirs.

One of these is to conduct a Bankruptcy Search on those who are entitled to inherit and now Finders have introduced a Worldwide Bankruptcy Search service.

Professional probate genealogists, like Finders, commonly know as ‘heir hunters’, will have the facilities and experienced staff to deal with any issues that may arise, and offer a range of services like Worldwide Bankruptcy Search which gives assurance to anyone appointing them to trace missing beneficiaries. Finders heir hunters have a network of agents throughout the world and will feature in the new series of the BBC TV daytime show Heir Hunters which starts in 2014. On the show Finders are followed as they unravel intestacies, tracing missing or unknown beneficiaries and reuniting them with their rightful inheritance.

The process starts with the deceased and the search for a will. It is a cause of constant surprise to the heir hunters that so many people do not have a will or that they have a will that is not up to date or, frustratingly for the potential beneficiaries, a will that cannot be found. Even if there is a will there may be named heirs who are unknown to the executors who will engage a probate genealogy company to trace those missing beneficiaries. When there isn’t a will the probate genealogists go into heir hunting mode and invest their own time and expense to find those entitled heirs.

Although tracing the beneficiaries is not necessarily easy, especially when there is an international dimension it is only the start of the process. Their identities have to be checked and proved, an administrator has to be appointed as do solicitors to handle the legal aspects of the application but it doesn’t end there.

Prior to making distribution of estate funds to beneficiaries, it is a requirement to run a bankruptcy search against each individual heir in line to inherit. This again becomes more complex when heirs live abroad or have lived abroad. Finders can conduct these searches in a number of countries and can also undertake bankruptcy searches for UK based beneficiaries.

Assuming everything is in order and the estate is distributed to those rightfully entitled heirs there is one more thing to consider. What if a previously unknown beneficiary emerges who has a claim on the estate? It is the duty of search companies to go to every length to ensure that all those entitled have been traced, but on very rare occasions there may be someone who was completely unknown but who has a claim. This is why Finders carry missing beneficiary insurance another service that benefits heirs as well as both trustees and administrators.

The Worldwide Bankruptcy Search service is another of the many and increasing services Finders offer to both trustees and administrators, services that include, Missing Will Insurance, Dormant and Orphan Funds, Property Transactions-Missing Funds, Missing Will Service, Missing Document Service, Probate Property Sales and Services, Transferable Nil Rate Band Service, Missing Asset Service and many others.

Finders have been awarded the ISO 9001:2008 Total Quality Management certification and are the first probate genealogy firm to achieve the international version of this Standard as devised by the IAB (International Accreditation Board). Finders also provide missing beneficiary insurance, which protects trustees and administrators against the event of an unknown beneficiary emerging after an estate, has been distributed. As agents for Aviva they are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

For further information and advice contact Finders, 6-8 Vestry Street, London N1 7RE 020 7490 4935 www.findersuk.com

Our Story of Heir Hunters Published at Family Tree Magazine December 2013

Every year, thousands of people die intestate, meaning they haven’t made a will or one cannot be found. In cases where no beneficiaries can be traced within 12 years, the estate passes to the Crown (HM Treasury). In certain cases, claims may be submitted up to 30 years after a death at the discretion of the Treasury Solicitor.

Bona vacantia (Latin for ‘vacant goods’) is the name given to ownerless property (homes, money, possessions and so forth) and every day names are added to the Bona Vacantia list, which is where the Crown’s Treasury Solicitor advertises for kin of deceased intestates in England and Wales to come forward and claim what could be rightfully theirs.

The current list dates from 1997, so this is where you can look to see if you can spot anyone that may be a long-lost relative. And possibly be in line for a claim on their estate.

However, it’s not quite as easy as that. The list – which deals with around 2,000 solvent cases per year – simply provides a forename, surname, place of death and marital status. Sometimes spouse’s names are given (if known), as are alias names and place of birth. It’s up to potential claimants on the estate to prove their relationship with the deceased. Oh, and before you get excited, there’s no clue as to how much the estate is worth, although none less than £500 are advertised.

The key message is, though, if you are in line for a surprise windfall, you could be contacted by an heir hunter.

Behind the camera

Bona vacantia has been in existence since William the Conqueror’s time, but it wasn’t until June 2007 that the general public really became aware of it thanks to the popular BBC TV programme, ‘Heir Hunters’.

Starting its eighth series on BBC1 in early 2014, the programmes follow the exciting warts-and-all progress of probate researchers attempting to find rightful heirs to intestates, before the unclaimed estates are collected by the Treasury.

But how was the idea of ‘Heir Hunters’ conceived? John Widdup, executive producer at Flame TV, the production company behind the programmes, reveals all…

‘We thought the world of probate genealogy made an intriguing proposition for a television series. There was the detective work of tracing missing relatives, the drama of racing against time to visit heirs and the joy of telling people about an unexpected inheritance.

‘It was also clear that the work of the “heir hunters” would provide a unique platform from which to explore a diverse range of social history and tell some fascinating and very moving family stories. After positive discussions with some major probate research firms the series was pitched to the BBC in 2005, and the rest is history.

‘The phrase “heir hunters” is now widely used to describe those in the industry – although many still prefer the term probate researcher or forensic genealogist.’

Caroline: Where do you start when making the programmes?

John: ‘We work with several major probate research firms and once we go into production we begin discussing potential stories for the series. Some may be cases they are currently investigating, while others will be cases from the archives that have already been solved.

‘A series of 20 episodes takes around six months to produce and is generally broadcast within a few months of completion.

‘We have a core production team of around 20 people, including a series producer and production manager, researchers, editors and edit producers who write the narration. Our producer/directors are also skilled camera operators and they shoot the programme themselves using small, high-definition cameras. By keeping the kit and crew to a minimum we’re able to be as unobtrusive as possible, which is especially important when shooting in a busy working environment.’

Caroline: Who looks for heirs and why?

John: ‘Probate research companies specialise in tracing missing beneficiaries to estates of people who have died intestate and who had no known relatives. Many of these cases are advertised by the Bona Vacantia division of the Treasury Solicitor’s office and heir hunting firms will try to trace living relatives who are entitled to a share of the estate and help them claim their inheritance.

‘Most firms work on commission and agree a fee with each heir they find, which is usually a percentage of the inheritance. But because estate values range from a few hundred pounds to hundreds of thousands of pounds, and because the heir hunters often don’t know the true value of an estate, their work can be a huge gamble. They might put hours of costly research into tracing scores of family members only to learn that the case is worth very little and their percentage fee won’t cover the cost of their work. ‘There is also a huge amount of work that goes on once heirs have been found, and it is often months – or even years – before an estate can be fully distributed.

‘Other sources of work for the heir hunters can include solicitors who may find that they are in contact with some but not all of the relatives to an estate, or neighbours of a property that is falling into disrepair because the owner has passed away and there is no one to inherit it.’

Caroline: How do you source and choose subjects for the programme?

John: ‘Broadly speaking we feature two types of cases: ones in which we follow the heir hunters “live” as they trace family members, and then others which are interesting cases from the archives that have already been solved.

‘For us to include any case in the programme we look for an heir who is happy to be featured and we also strive to find people who knew the deceased and can share some positive memories of them.

‘We then spend time researching the family and/or social history angle for each story, which could be anything from the interesting occupation of an ancestor to a key event that shaped a family’s story, such as WWII evacuation for example.’

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