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Heir Hunter - wrong person identified

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  • Heir Hunter - wrong person identified

    Hi,

    I am looking for some advice, please.

    I was contacted by an heir hunter about an 'unknown' deceased relative who was supposedly the father of my aunt. My aunt died 4 years ago and the supposed father died 24 years ago. I was the executor of my aunt's estate.

    After agreeing terms with the heir hunter, the process started but very late in the day we have discovered that the heir hunter had identified the wrong deceased person (the supposed father of my aunt). Surprisingly, I understand the treasury had been satisfied with the information and are ready to release the money (the mis-identification was caused by 2 people with the same name having the same birth date). The heir hunter has informed me that as the legal process was already in progress, I will need to sign the final papers to get the treasury to release the money to the solicitor working with the heir hunter, so that this can then be passed on to the correct heir. I will then have no further involvement.

    I do not feel at all comfortable with this now, but am unsure what to do. My intention is to call the solicitor and tell them I am not signing any paper work, but equally I do not want to stop the right heir getting the money. Perhaps I should contact the treasury and explain the situation to them?

    Any thoughts very greatly appreciated!

  • #2
    A non-legal but commonsense response - you mustn't compound the error, since you are aware the heir hunter has made a factual error. The Treasury Solicitor should have an enquiry phone or email contact arrangement so you can point out the error and get the process aborted. I think the heir hunter may be reluctant to wave goodbye to their commission, which would now be undrer false pretences and probably illegal.
    Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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    • #3
      dont sign let them sort it out

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      • #4
        I agree with UJ, contact the treasury solicitor, they are the ones with the ultimate power to stop things going any further.

        OC

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        • #5
          Many thanks for the quick responses. I will take the advice here. I will call the heir hunter solicitor tomorrow and let them know I will be contacting the Treasury (I anticipate they may not be happy about this) but as mentioned here I would only be compounding the problem. FYI, I believe the heir hunter has now found the correct heir. At the end of the day, I could probably quite easily just point blank refuse to sign and not even follow up with the treasury as the estate has nothing to do with me now, but I would prefer not to leave any loose ends as at the moment the treasury believe I am executor for this estate........I presume?

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