Heir Hunters

[Jobbo]

I still think you can avoid any fee by dealing with this yourselves - have a search for the deceased's name here: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/wills-and-probate/notice
When you find the right person, click on the notice and get in touch with the administrator/executor. They are obliged to pay the beneficiaries if money is due to them; simply making yourselves known should be enough and there's no need to go through any third party.

[Sundayjumper]

There is that, yes

[Matty]

I still think you can avoid any fee by dealing with this yourselves - have a search for the deceased's name here: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/wills-and-probate/notice
When you find the right person, click on the notice and get in touch with the administrator/executor. They are obliged to pay the beneficiaries if money is due to them; simply making yourselves known should be enough and there's no need to go through any third party.

Thanks - can't find him on there. I think it was just of a financial benefit for them and/or another close relative who could also help with the legwork...then maybe. But as pensioners and any financial benefit will primarily be given to 9 other very distant relatives (who are practially strangers), I think letting someone else handle it is probably easier.

[Jobbo]

The heir hunter companies don't handle transferring funds - what they do is just inform the executor of the beneficiaries' details.

How did Fraser & Fraser become aware of his death if not from a notice in the Gazette? That is the standard way of going about it.

[JonMad]

Related question (maybe tangent).

Say someone dies with a will, that names two people on it, splitting the estate equally between them. Can a third (say, an ex wife of the deceased who's possibly taken half of what would have been in the estate with her as part of a divorce settlement, leaving only half for the two in the will) have any grounds for claiming part of the estate?

[integrale_evo]

I would have thought that once whatever was agreed in a divorce settlement was paid up and the divorce finalised that they wouldn’t be entitled to anything else if they weren’t named on the will. At that point they’re essentially just a randomer or acquaintance

[240PP]

What if they’re still married but not mentioned in the will? Or explicitly left out of the will? Do they automatically have a claim on the estate because ‘married’?

[Jobbo]

Someone who is a dependent who has not been provided for has a potential claim on the estate.

A divorced ex-spouse where there is no financial order would have a potential claim whether or not their ex is still alive (provided they haven’t remarried themselves) so yes, could in theory claim on the estate.

[Matty]

The heir hunter companies don't handle transferring funds - what they do is just inform the executor of the beneficiaries' details.

How did Fraser & Fraser become aware of his death if not from a notice in the Gazette? That is the standard way of going about it.

I've no idea, all I was told was that F&F got in touch after the coroner placed an advert (whereever that may be) when there was no immediate family.