Anglia Research Services

A question about : Anglia Research Services

We have been approached by a company called Anglia Research who tell us that we are likely beneficiaries from an intestate will. They will organise things for a whopping commission. Does anyone know how this can be investigated without handing over about a third of any legacy we are entitled to?

Thanks

Best answers:

• Have you ever seen “Heirhunters” on BBC1? No guarantees, but I do feel that they have been featured on the programme.
  Basically each week the Government publishes a list of people who have died without leaving a will and the value of their estate. If nobody claims, the money goes to the Treasury. Then the various Heirhunters firms go to work researching the deceased’s family tree to try to find people who are entitled to claim the whole or a share of the deceased‘s estate.
  In order to put in a successful claim I‘m pretty sure they have to prove exactly who is entitled to the whole estate so they do have their work cut out.
  If Anglia Research are who I think they are you have nothing to lose by going along with them.
  Television programmes being what they are, they only feature the best results but from what I have watched your situation is probably that you have no idea who the person who died is and so have no chance of establishing your claim against the estate of your long lost relative.
  If you appear to be entitled to a huge amount of money there will almost certainly be other Heirhunters firms not far behind Anglia Research and you will probably be contacted by them fairly shortly.
  They might offer a better percentage.
  The theme of the BBC1 programme was that the Heirhunters do all the work and they expect a percentage of your inheritance for their efforts.
  Don’t get your hopes up too high but if they are doing all the work and want to charge say 40% you will still end up with 60% of something. Without them you will end up with 100% of nothing.
  Give them a whirl. You could get a nice bit of free money and be put in contact with other distant relatives who share your luck.
  But, if they want money from you in advance you should reply with a 2 word answer and the second word should be “off”.
• I have also been contacted by Anglia Research giving me information regarding my maternal grandmother (who died when my late mother was only 14) and asking me to agree to them pursuing a claim on my behalf. It is highly unlikely that there would be any unclaimed monies as my grandmother had 10 children (my mother being one of them) and I have nearly 50 first cousins and a lot more second cousins. Does anyone think it is worth pursuing this, other than for curiosity as Anglia Research will claim 25% of any amounts due to me? Of course my two siblings and other cousins would probably be entitled to a share of whatever has come to light. It is just very odd that they contacted me and not my brother or sister as they still have the same surname as the one mentioned in the letter and I don't.
• Of course it's worth pursuing. If you don't, you may get nothing at all. If you do, they take a cut for the hard work they've put in. If you do get in touch, they will ask about your siblings. Maybe you're the only one they've been able to track down?
• What do you do to get the money without paying a company? Who would you conact to enquire about a distant relatives estate?
• If you get contacted by an Heir Hunter company about a relation who has died Intestate please please look at the Bona Vacantia website.They are the Government Treasurers who hold the deceaseds money.They are very helpful & it is straightforward applying as a rightful Heir without incurring exorbitant Heir Hunter Fees.Heir Hunter companies do have a role, I suppose, as in most cases you are not even aware that you may be entitled to a share in an Estate.However they hurt their case by asking you to sign up with them & agree to pay them a large flat fee (up to 40% of a successful claim)without itemising the work involved.
• If you get contacted by an Heir Hunter company about a relation who has died Intestate please please look at the Bona Vacantia website.They are the Government Treasurers who hold the deceaseds money.They are very helpful & it is straightforward applying as a rightful Heir without incurring exorbitant Heir Hunter Fees.Heir Hunter companies do have a role, I suppose, as in most cases you are not even aware that you may be entitled to a share in an Estate.However they hurt their case by asking you to sign up with them & agree to pay them a large flat fee (up to 40% of a successful claim)without itemising the work involved.
• I received a letter this morning from Anglia Research. After reading this forum I looked at the Bona Vacantia website and contacted the Treasury Solicitor's Office - They gave me the contact details of the Solicitor's dealing with the deceased's estate.
  I contacted the solicitor and they have asked me to send all the certificates that link me with the deceased to prove my claim.
  Afterwards I realised that the address of Anglia Research and the solicitor were quite similar. And then after cross referencing the name of solicitor I spoke to at Wolsey Probate with Anglia Research's website - I realised that the solicitor in charge of probate works for Anglia Research.
  Now What?!
  Anglia Research know I am related otherwise they wouldn't have contacted me. Now I have been asked to provide all certificates proving the link.
• I received a letter from these people and have checked on Bona Vacantia but the name of my 'relative' isn't on there. Is there an simple explanation why the name isn't there, is there another list - or should I be suspicious?
• Isn't Intestate Wills a contradiction in terms?
• We signed up for an estate that Anglia Research is administering more then 2 years ago and STILL have not been paid out. Through our agent we are told that they are still researching...meanwhile they are sitting in our money enjoying the interest. Has anyone else had this problem with them?
• So, is this legit? Has anyone actually had any money from them?
• I have had a letter from Anglia Research to say that I am related to someone who has not left a will and there is money that I and other members of my family are entitled to and they asked me to sign a document allowing them to represent me for a 20% of the total plus vat. There have been letters about this from 2006 till 2012 but not one person has said that they have received any money from Anglia can any one out there give some up to date info about Anglia. Can any one of you let us know if you had got anything from Anglia as I don't know if we should sign up with them. I tried contacting 35mos on the email he gave but no reply yet. your hopefully
• Hi, we move threads if we think they’ll get more help elsewhere (please read the forum rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board. If you have any questions about this policy please email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.
• OK Anglia have not been featured on Heir hunters although they have been mentioned. They are one of the the 4 or 5 largest heir hunting firms in the country and their director is known to me. He should be as I am in the same line of business.
  Anglia Frasers my own company can only pay out to entitled heirs when an entitled heir signs with us and allows us to make the claim on their behalf. This is done for a commission of the share that this person is entitled to. 20% seems to be the industry average but I do know that depending on the work involved and the amount of heirs this can drop as low as 5% (very rare) and as high as 40% (also very rare)
  As others have said you can make this claim yourself however for you to do that you need to know the name of the person who has died. There are at present over 10,000 names on the BV list and there is no knowing which of these cases you are entitled to a share of the estate. I am assuming that Anglia have not given you the name of the deceased.
  Now not wanting to put you off claiming this yourself but are you aware what is involved once you obtain the estate? Are you experienced enough to build a family tree and then locate other entitled heirs that you may or may not know. Do you have the resources to do this? If I say that the average research time for an estate where there are less that 10 entitled heirs is somewhere between 5 and 15 hours. These cases are few and far between and the majority end up being 20+ heirs. As well as the cost of staff that Anglia employ there is the cost of obtaining all the certficates involved. In fact if I tell you that the case I have in the hands of the solicitor at the minute has cost me just under Ј200 so far and until today that was without knowing what the estate is worth you can see that its going to cost you a fair sum of money to even obtain the estate from the treasury. Anglia will do all this at their risk. I am sure that they would not have contacted you if they were not sure you was entitled to something.
  (Text removed by MSE Forum Team)
• Thank you for your reply Rob you say that 20% is the industry standard but is it usual to add VAT to what they charge which puts the costs up even more. Regards
• Potter,
  Unfortunately VAT is when registered for VAT is comulsory. The VAT is only on the money that Anglia will take in commission therefore if that is Ј100 then there is Ј20 VAT to add to that.
  Rob
• Remember if you are a valid beneficiary you still get paid out if you don't sign, if and when the estate does get administered.
  The risk by not signing is that that not enough of the others(if any) do for anyone to take on the estate.
  since all at a level are entitled if you know of others through blood lines at your level then you could contact themcontact them.
  https://www.familytreeservice.co.uk/s...es/cousins.jpg
  Bottom line is the heir hunters will be putting work, it is often up to you how much you reward them.
  the main issue with finding heirs is you may have to go upto grandparents and down from there and a lot of the people that knew those generations are also dead.
• .......and as Rob has pointed out several times before, if the tree goes into the "Celtic fringes" of the British Isles could be looking at a more complicated situation; let alone that it strays into other countries round the globe.