Frequently Asked Questions for Relatives

If somebody with no known relatives dies without leaving a will, their assets will eventually pass to the Crown. The authorities make very little attempt to trace relatives, other than to place advertisements with minimal information in the media. Therefore, there is every likelihood that rightful beneficiaries would never know about their entitlement, but for the involvement of a probate genealogist.

At Anglia Research we understand that the people we contact might be concerned and apprehensive. They needn’t be.

We often hear this! However, we might be talking about quite a distant relationship, such as a half-blood cousin four times removed. Hardly anyone knows all their relatives to that extent.

We use information in the public domain and available to anyone. This includes birth, marriage and death indexes, census data and electoral roll records. We also have our own considerable library of genealogical resources, accumulated during the company’s five decades of operation.

This sometimes happens in cases of intestacy. The probate genealogy industry is highly competitive and when someone with no known relatives dies without leaving a will, several different companies may try to trace the heirs to the estate.

No. Should a number of heirs (or beneficiaries) sign with different companies it has no effect upon their entitlement other than the fee involved. However, it will always be in your best interest to sign an agreement with Anglia Research.

The fees set out in the agreement are the only fees Anglia Research will ever ask you to pay. There are no hidden costs and Anglia Research will never ask you to pay any money from your own pocket. This is our guarantee to you.

We take into account the value of the assets (if known), the complexity of the case, the number of relatives and many other aspects. We avoid London rents and salaries so that our overheads can be kept low, thus ensuring that you receive a high share of your entitlement.

At our own expense, we have invested time, effort and money to establish your connection to the deceased person and the unclaimed assets. We propose to pass on this information to you in return for a fee agreement. We would love to give you the information first, but we need to secure our fee by having a signed agreement in place before we can disclose details.

Of course. Please contact your case manager or call Head Office to arrange a visit.

Once we have agreements back from entitled relatives, we submit a claim to the Treasury on behalf of one representative family member. When the claim has been admitted, it is usual for the same relative to become the personal representative (PR). A solicitor is then chosen to work with the PR and deal with the administration of the estate. They undertake the work of gathering in the estate’s assets and paying out its liabilities. Only when this is done can the solicitor calculate how much each beneficiary is due and then make a distribution.

They are paid out of the estate’s assets before it is distributed.

Far from it. Some probate research firms direct their clients to expensive solicitors. To help justify high costs, they produce complicated accounts and create unnecessarily complex family trees – all meant to impress. Others, especially newcomers, will use inexperienced solicitors who end up floundering if the case takes an unexpected turn.

It is impossible to give a detailed timeline of how long the process will take, as every case is different. Although most cases are managed within six to nine months, there are always exceptions to the rule.

In many cases, we are unaware of the full value of the estate we are researching. As a result, it is not always possible to estimate individual entitlements until our research is complete, all the entitled relatives have been located and the claim has been accepted by the Treasury.

Absolutely not. Our fee is conditional upon you receiving something from the estate. There is no catch – you will never be asked to pay more than an agreed percentage of your inheritance, so if the claim is unsuccessful and you receive nothing, you will pay us nothing.

As our fee is based upon a percentage or proportion of what you are due from the estate, it will always be less than the sum you inherit. To repeat – there is no catch.

Our fee is paid by the administrator of the estate when the assets are distributed, so we do not get paid until you receive your inheritance.

Sadly, in the vast majority of cases, the personal possessions of the deceased will have been disposed of, or sold to add to the monetary value of the estate. However, in a minority of cases, we are given items, such as old photographs or address books, that can be passed on to the wider family.

Certainly. Should you require a copy of the family tree, please speak to your case manager.

Anglia Research complies the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This means that we can’t and won’t pass anybody’s details to a third party without their consent. However, we can ask for permission to pass on details on your behalf. We also offer a free letter-forwarding service for this purpose.