Potential missing beneficiary

[CTKZ]

My late mother-in-law didn’t leave a will and my husband was the only ‘child’. However, my husband has heard from his Dad and uncle that his late mum had a son when she was a teenager and the child was sent to a long term fostered home after birth (in 1960s).
My Husband has mentioned this to the solicitor he was using for the will search. The solicitor told him this child is a beneficiary if he wasn’t legally adopted.
We do not know his name nor his whereabouts. Given that it wasn’t a big estate, we also do not want to spend out of our pocket to find him.
What is our legal option?

[Kati]

tagging Peridot enaid xx

[des8]

Hi and welcome

Your options are:
1)try and find via her old friends where the beneficiary might be and then place adverts in the papers local to that area giving any potential beneficiary 2 months in which to make a claim
2) keep a reserve fund sufficient to pay the sum due to the missing beneficiary
3) possibly take out an insurance policy to pay the beneficiary if he appears
4) obtain a "Benjamin order" (this involves getting the court to order distribution on the basis the beneficiary has probably died) but will cost even if possible.

[CTKZ]

Thank you so much!
1) Unfortunately she didn’t have many friends and moved around a lot. But I guess we could place the adverts in the area she lived as a teenager.
We are also waiting for the probate solicitor to give us a quote as he suggested doing a title research. Is that necessary in showing that we made a reasonable endavour?
2) You have mentioned to leave a reserved fund. Does that mean if there is no claim after 2 months, the probate solicitor will proceed with the estate distribution to my husband as he is the other beneficiary?
3) My late Mother in law struggled with depression and that is the reason we think she didn’t get around doing the will. We are still waiting for the total value to come through but I have just learnt that it might become a significant sum (above £300,000). She has made known to me, her only Brother and my husband’s dad that she wanted my husband to inherit everything.
The child was the result of the rape and she wanted to give the child up for adoption. But we heard it didn’t happen as her mother (my husband’s grandma) intervened and instead he was given up for Long term fostering.
Is there a chance that my husband can contest the interstate not to give exactly half? My husband provided her a home to live and was there for her as the only emotional support especially after my husband’s dad left her and she became estranged from her only brother .
We struggled morally as we know this child deserve some money but to give half of the whole amount is also potentially a large sum. And that’s not what his mum would have wanted. Everything about this child is all hearsay from my husband’s dad and her only younger brother.

[Peridot]

Hi CTKZ,

What a difficult situation for you and your husband. I think your first step needs to be taking steps to try and locate the fostered child. As suggested look into placing some ads in local papers to where your mother in law was at the time the child was fostered. The local authority may be able to give some pointers. It may be that the child was adopted so would no longer have a legitimate claim in any event. The title search would be a sensible idea as you say to demonstrate you have tried or using a tracing agent company. You could do this yourselves and not incur the cost of the solicitor instructing them. There is of course a fee for this work and some digging would be needed to try and find out the child's name.

If you have no luck with the ads or a tracing agent then it may be worth considering taking out some insurance that would cover the sum that potentially be due to the child, if he was later found or made contact.

Unfortunately without a Will the Intestacy Rules are applied strictly, although if the child is located then the parties can of course negotiate an agreed settlement.

See what the solicitor quotes and ask what other options you have in order to protect your/the Administrators position should contact be made a long way down the line.

[des8]

I believe the "missing" heir has 12 years in which to lodge a claim.
Regarding the "Missing Beneficiary Indemnity Insurance", besides asking your solicitor, seek alternative quotes either from a broker or online.

[CTKZ]

Thank you both! It’s a really great idea to engage the title research firm rather than going through the solicitor. I have done some google search and there are a number of firms offering this service. Titlesearch.com and Fraser and Fraser are among the top searches. Would you have recommendation for a reputable search company that won’t cost too much?

Happy Easter weekend!

[des8]

If you can ascertain sufficient details to obtain a copy of the birth certificate for the missing heir, you will see if he was adopted as it will be annotated with the word "adopted"

You can do a lot of searching on line. Start with the GRO https://www.gro.gov.uk/
I only know this because OH has been researching family history

[CTKZ]

Thank you very much! It was very helpful. We have managed to find someone who we think is the other beneficiary on Freebmd website today and with that information we have ordered a copy of his birth certificate. If he was adopted, we don’t need to search him anymore but if he wasn’t, we will engage a title research firm on our own to try and find him. Will the cost come out from the estate?

Please can I ask a few more questions?

Because we didn’t know this was going to be this complicated initially, we engaged a solicitor and send him some documents and make payment for Will search. Also because we live overseas now, we thought it will be helpful. We have not signed any documents yet although we were informed we will be charged by the hour. Now we feel we are not getting enough response or advise from our solicitor and also afraid to ask more because of the cost.
1) Is there anyway my husband can be the administrator of the estate and only use the service of the solicitor partially?
2) Can we claim back the funeral expenses from the estate before everything is finalised?

thank you again!

[des8]

Glad to hear you are making progress .
The cost of both finding this possible heir, and of ascertaining if he is entitled, may be taken from the estate.
Funerary expenses are a priority and can be reimbursed after payment of any secured debts of the estate after Letters of Administration have been granted but before finalisation.
If your husband was granted letters of administration he may appoint others (including the solicitor) to undertake specific tasks.

Pity you are dissatisfied with the solicitor, but I'm afraid in all professions we find those who seem to work hard for their clients, but also others who don't !