Why are there so many unclaimed estates? – Daily Mail Online

The following is an extract from an article published by the Daily Mail Online 28/2/15

“Ryan Gregory, senior case manager at probate genealogists Finders, says many families lose touch and only see each other at occasions such as weddings or funeral.

Often people have drifted apart by divorce, separation or just by moving away.

This can make it hard to find family members when someone passes away.

He says tracing relatives has become harder due to higher number of divorces and people change their names and the surnames of their children more frequently.

Also it is harder to find phone numbers as many people only use a mobile and not a landline and these numbers are more likely to change. Also people move around the country for work much more regularly than in years gone by.

It is the job of heir hunters such as Mr Gregory to locate family members who may be in line for an inheritance

He says rising property prices means many could be in line to inherit million pound estates.

He explains: ‘We are lucky to be able to give some great and life changing news to many people. We recently shared a large intestate estate between a family of farm workers living in the Ukraine. The deceased obviously came to the UK to work and did very well for himself. When he died without leaving a will we looked for his family in the Ukraine as the beneficiaries.

‘Also recently we traced a gentleman to Canada who was in his 80s. He was the uncle of a person who had died without a will and came into a large inheritance he wasn’t expecting.“

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Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2965122/Heir-hunters-track unclaimed-inheritance.html#ixzz3TEDVrz8y