In search of beneficiaries...

THE POPULARITY of programmes such as ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, the release of the 1901 Census online, and other events enabling people to trace their past, have resulted in genealogy becoming one of the current hot topics of conversation. It has also renewed television companies’ interest in producing a programme shadowing probate researchers as they go from a simple name to locating and contacting long lost relatives.
Around 545,000 people die in England and Wales every year, yet more than half do not leave a will and, unless next of kin can be identified within 12 years, the whole value of the estate goes to the Crown. The BBC thought up a programme that would pitch rival firms of genealogists in a race to trace relatives of intestate estates published by the Treasury, and get the public involved by appealing for help in solving cases on which the probate researchers had become stuck. Between £10m and £20m worth of estates are claimed by the Treasury Solicitor every year simply because there is no one to claim them – and to probate research firms, the Treasury’s lists of estates represent a chance to whittle this figure down. The programme was broadcast on BBC1 over 15 consecutive weekdays in June 2007. It showed probate researchers at work from the advertisement of an intestate case through to the basic outline of research, both in the office and on the road with outside researchers, on to locating a beneficiary to the estate and, finally, the meeting with them to inform them of the news. This was broken up with sections of unsolved estates and brief snippets on some of the fascinating stories of previously successful cases. The sad family stories which lead to probate researchers’ involvement mean that we are often witnesses to the strangest of family secrets, and the programme was able to partake in a snapshot of what makes the profession so addictive. Solving the puzzle as to what really happened leads to many unexpected stories: long lasting feuds (as seen in episode seven); abandoned children (episode one); and, escapes to or from far away lands (episodes three and six). It soon became clear when the filming started that this was not going to be as easy as the BBC had first thought. Gone are the days of the tweed jacket and slow methodical trudging through old dusty records at St Catherine House ( a comprehensive family history archive) – these days research firms use teams of researchers on high speed microfilm readers and computers, thanks to which we oversaw around 400 cases in 2005. The large number of researchers working simultaneously on a single case made it difficult for the camera crew to follow the family developing. Computerised databases can perform almost instantaneous searches for what would previously have taken several hours and, whereas a team would previously have needed to search through tomes of indexes, the same search now takes minutes. By contrast, the legal processes of applying for certificates, grants or letters of administration take considerable time, which means that even when most heirs are located it isn’t just a case of handing over a cheque and a bottle of bubbly. Indeed, most of the time they cannot even be precisely informed of how much they will be entitled to, as the value of the estate can change significantly in accordance with the end value of any property, minus administrator’s fees, and so on. The results of the programme were immediate. Letters and e-mails have flowed in, especially those responding to the ‘Are You Related?’ section, attempting to demonstrate that they were related to someone mentioned in the programme, many of them by virtue of the fact that their aunt, godfather or husband had the same surname as the deceased. Having said that there have been some vital clues to intestacies advertised on the show, such as the one-armed skeleton. This was a very sad case of a lonely man whose remains were found in a closet in the form of a skeleton with one only arm, when builders went in to empty the property years after his flat burnt down. There were no records of this man under the name that he was known by and, had the particulars of the case not been brought up in the programme, it is virtually impossible that a potential next of kin would have been located. It has also had the welcome effect of being recognised as bona fide probate investigators. This BBC documentary has enabled members of the public to realise the legitimate nature of researchers’ enquiries when they receive a call out of the blue telling them that they may be entitled to a share of an estate of a long lost relative. Approaching them is now that much easier, since our managers have been seen doing their work and demonstrating the thrill and immense satisfaction in finding the rightful heirs to an estate that would otherwise go to the Treasury – and it is perhaps also what made the programme such a hit, as over the course of three weeks the audience grew from 900,000 to around 1.4 million.
To view the programme just log on to www.lostkin.co.uk\heirhunters.

Kasia A. Oberc is Relationship Manager at Fraser & Fraser. For further information contact 020 7832 1430 or e-mail Legal@LostKin.co.uk.