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. I don't know if anyone else has experience of such things, but here in South Africa if someone dies intestate the relevant authority, or the heirs or crditors appoint an executor dative (as opposed to an executor testamentary) to handle the estate. What is the equivalent procedure in England? We have not been in touch with her, because we did not know her address, and it's rather sad to only discover where she lived after her death. So we don't know whether she lived in her own house, or was renting a place, or what. But who would be responsible, and who would look after her things? We know she was a civil servant, and don't expect that she would have got rich on a civil service pension, so we are not so much concerned about the monetary value of the estate (which would need to be shared with a lot of other relatives anyway) but rather things like family papers and photographs. In the absence of an executor, who would handle such things? Would a landlord just toss them out to make room for a new tenant? Who would have the keys to her home? -- Steve Hayes Web: http://hayesgreene.wordpress.com/ http://hayesgreene.blogspot.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/afgen/