On Thu, 18 Dec 2014 23:47:59 +0000, Richard Smith <[email protected]> wrote: >On 17/12/14 09:36, Steve Hayes wrote: >> We have been approached by two different heir-hunting firms with the news that >> my wife's first cousin once removed has died intestate, and they are looking >> for heirs. > >Which way around is the "once removed"? If one of your wife's parents >was the deceased's first cousin, your wife is perhaps an heir, being the >granddaughter of an uncle or aunt. If it was the other way round, and >one of the deceased's parents was your wife's first cousin, then (as I >understand it) your wife would not normally be an heir. (This is per >the law in England and Wales. If the estate is in Scotland or Northern >Ireland, things might be different.) The deceased was my wife's mother's first cousin, so my wife is one of the heirs. My question was really about who would have have charge of the deceased's property if she died intestate. If there is a will, there is usually a named executor. But if there is no will, who looks after the property until an executor can be appointed? We've now managed to find the name of a firm of lawyers who have apparently taken charge of such things, though I still have no idea who appointed them, in the absence of a will. -- Steve Hayes Web: http://hayesgreene.wordpress.com/ http://hayesgreene.blogspot.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/afgen/

On Fri, 19 Dec 2014 07:46:21 +0200, Steve Hayes <[email protected]> wrote: >On Thu, 18 Dec 2014 23:47:59 +0000, Richard Smith <[email protected]> >wrote: > >>On 17/12/14 09:36, Steve Hayes wrote: >>> We have been approached by two different heir-hunting firms with the news that >>> my wife's first cousin once removed has died intestate, and they are looking >>> for heirs. >> >>Which way around is the "once removed"? If one of your wife's parents >>was the deceased's first cousin, your wife is perhaps an heir, being the >>granddaughter of an uncle or aunt. If it was the other way round, and >>one of the deceased's parents was your wife's first cousin, then (as I >>understand it) your wife would not normally be an heir. (This is per >>the law in England and Wales. If the estate is in Scotland or Northern >>Ireland, things might be different.) > Very different in Scotland. Spouses and children have rights which cannot be overcome by a will and the chain of succession has no end unlike in England and Wales where the Crown gets the estate of an intestate person if the nearest relative is not closely enough related. >The deceased was my wife's mother's first cousin, so my wife is one of the >heirs. > >My question was really about who would have have charge of the deceased's >property if she died intestate. If there is a will, there is usually a named >executor. But if there is no will, who looks after the property until an >executor can be appointed? > There is no executor if there is no will, probate is then the responsibility of an administrator. An administrator (or the person on whose behalf an administrator acts) has to have an interest in the estate as someone entitled to inherit or by having some other claim upon the estate (e.g. a person to whom the deceased owed a debt). IMU there is no particular order of precedence to be considered when a person qualified to act makes an application for a grant to administer but this does not later prevent someone higher up the chain of succession (or anywhere in it?) applying to take over the administration if the person who got in first fails to do the job properly. See also Administration of Estates Act 1925 [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/15-16/23/contents] s.46 has the sequence of succession of the residuary estate of an intestate person domiciled in England and Wales. >We've now managed to find the name of a firm of lawyers who have apparently >taken charge of such things, though I still have no idea who appointed them, >in the absence of a will. > In England and Wales they would have required a grant of administration from the Principal Registry of the Family Division of the High Court (PRFD) :- https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance/overview

On 19/12/2014 19:57, Charles Ellson wrote: > On Fri, 19 Dec 2014 07:46:21 +0200, Steve Hayes > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Thu, 18 Dec 2014 23:47:59 +0000, Richard Smith <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> On 17/12/14 09:36, Steve Hayes wrote: >>>> We have been approached by two different heir-hunting firms with the news that >>>> my wife's first cousin once removed has died intestate, and they are looking >>>> for heirs. >>> >>> Which way around is the "once removed"? If one of your wife's parents >>> was the deceased's first cousin, your wife is perhaps an heir, being the >>> granddaughter of an uncle or aunt. If it was the other way round, and >>> one of the deceased's parents was your wife's first cousin, then (as I >>> understand it) your wife would not normally be an heir. (This is per >>> the law in England and Wales. If the estate is in Scotland or Northern >>> Ireland, things might be different.) >> > Very different in Scotland. Spouses and children have rights which > cannot be overcome by a will and the chain of succession has no end > unlike in England and Wales where the Crown gets the estate of an > intestate person if the nearest relative is not closely enough > related. > >> The deceased was my wife's mother's first cousin, so my wife is one of the >> heirs. >> >> My question was really about who would have have charge of the deceased's >> property if she died intestate. If there is a will, there is usually a named >> executor. But if there is no will, who looks after the property until an >> executor can be appointed? >> > There is no executor if there is no will, probate is then the > responsibility of an administrator. An administrator (or the person on > whose behalf an administrator acts) has to have an interest in the > estate as someone entitled to inherit or by having some other claim > upon the estate (e.g. a person to whom the deceased owed a debt). IMU > there is no particular order of precedence to be considered when a > person qualified to act makes an application for a grant to administer > but this does not later prevent someone higher up the chain of > succession (or anywhere in it?) applying to take over the > administration if the person who got in first fails to do the job > properly. > See also Administration of Estates Act 1925 > [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/15-16/23/contents] > s.46 has the sequence of succession of the residuary estate of an > intestate person domiciled in England and Wales. > >> We've now managed to find the name of a firm of lawyers who have apparently >> taken charge of such things, though I still have no idea who appointed them, >> in the absence of a will. >> > In England and Wales they would have required a grant of > administration from the Principal Registry of the Family Division of > the High Court (PRFD) :- > https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance/overview > I don't know if anyone has mentioned but there is a TV programme here in the UK that follows of the work of companies that do 'heir hunting'. They go through the lists of unclaimed estates and try to reach the heirs before any of their competitors. But they can be brought in before that stage. I think sometimes they are contacted by neighbours, friends of the deceased person or other interested parties. I understand that the bigger heir hunting companies charge quite high commissions for their work but there are also smaller one or two man businesses.

In message <[email protected]>, MB <[email protected]> writes: [] >I don't know if anyone has mentioned but there is a TV programme here >in the UK that follows of the work of companies that do 'heir hunting'. >They go through the lists of unclaimed estates and try to reach the >heirs before any of their competitors. > >But they can be brought in before that stage. I think sometimes they >are contacted by neighbours, friends of the deceased person or other >interested parties. > >I understand that the bigger heir hunting companies charge quite high >commissions for their work but there are also smaller one or two man >businesses. > > What's always puzzled me is how they _make_ their commission; what obligation does a potential inheritor, even after the AH has/have contacted them, to have anything to do with the AH? (Also, based on those prog.s, I get the impression they go for the biggest fruit first, as it were - so, OP, the fact that they _have_ contacted you suggests - unless it's a result of neighbour, friend etc. - that you may be in for good news, at least financially.) -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)[email protected]+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf The early worm gets the bird.