Fisher/Bowley Heir Hunters

Heir Hunters spend their lives tracking down families of people who died without leaving a will.

They hand over thousands of pounds to long-lost relatives who had no idea about their windfall.

Could they be knocking at your door?

On today's show, a 17-year-old who disappeared from his family home.

He just walked out.

Leaving behind a trail of mystery.

Not really noticeable. Just dressed plainly as if he wanted to fade into the background.

And the story of a miner whose difficult life brought a windfall to his descendants.

He died in '76, and 30-odd years later...

you get a phone call to say you may inherit some money.

It was quite a shock, to be honest.

Plus a list of unclaimed estates worth over £125,000.

Could you be due to inherit some money?

Every year in Britain, over 300,000 people die without leaving a will.

When no family is found, their money goes to the government. That's when the heir hunting companies step in.

Using birth, death and marriage records, they race each other to find any long-lost relatives

entitled to inherit.

But finding these relatives is easier said than done.

Sometimes people they investigate are so private that parts of their life will always remain a mystery.

This block of flats in North London was home to Alan Fisher for many years.

He died in 2006 at the age of 75.

His neighbour Nelly remembers him.

He must have moved in about 13 years ago,

but we didn't get to know him. He liked to be on his own,

didn't like any noise, would go out in the evening when it was quiet.

Perhaps he was happy like that,

but he just seemed so quiet. That was his name, the Quiet Man.

That's what we all called him.

But it seems that even though Alan Fisher was retiring in life,

he can't escape notice in death.

His name is on the Bona Vacantia, the weekly list of unclaimed estates published by the government.

It's 8am on a Thursday morning in Central London.

At Fraser and Fraser, a large heir hunting firm, tensions are running high.

Today the list of estates is released. Alan Fisher is one case the heir hunters are looking at.

Right. I'll see if I can get Ewart to go to Enfield.

At this stage, they know little about Alan Fisher.

So senior case manager David Pacifico despatches Ewart Lindsay to North London

to collect Alan's death certificate. He knows this will tell them where he was born.

We need more information so it's the obvious thing.

To assist them in tracking down the clues, they employ a crack team of travelling researchers.

These mobile agents spend their Thursdays primed to chase down clues

and get a head start in the race against rival companies.

This formula works because, after 30 years in the business,

Frasers have tracked down over 50,000 heirs with estates totalling more than £100 million.

It's mid-morning and in Enfield Ewart's already proving his worth.

-Hello, Ewart.

-I've got the death certificate.

He was of Flat 15, Holly Lodge.

They're hoping with Alan's address they'll be able to find out the value of the case.

Frasers work on commission and their overheads are high. The case must cover their costs.

If Alan owned his flat outright, it's a good indication of the estate's value,

but the death certificate yields other information.

He was born 16th May, 1931. Guess where.

-Don't tell me - up north.

-Cumberland.

That puts the cat among the pigeons.

The first rule of heir hunting is that people rarely move far from where they were born.

Alan lived in Enfield, but is likely to have family up north.

They'll have to search in Cumberland but the question is why did Alan live so far away from home?

And, more importantly, do his family even know he's died?

For now, they need to find out the value of the case. Ewart will check at Alan's old address

to see if he owned the property. Asking the neighbours is a good way of getting background information.

Hello. Sorry to trouble you. I'm from Fraser and Fraser.

I'm enquiring about your neighbour.

And in the office David asks case manager Marcus to investigate another avenue.

The death of Alan Fisher. We didn't know anything about him.

-We've now got his address.

-Yeah.

The researchers get on to checking the property registers.

If Alan Fisher owned his flat, it will be listed.

But it takes time. In Enfield, Ewart has already found out a wealth of information.

I've just spoken to a lady at number 18. She moved in to the property around 1981.

And he was already here. He's probably been here for a number of years.

She doesn't think he was ever married, no children. And it's a council property.

It doesn't look like Alan owned his property. Bad news for Marcus.

It doesn't look very good, actually. It appears to be a council flat.

I think, really, we'll have a look to see if the deceased had any close kin.

We'll talk to them and it might be something we can resolve quickly.

If we do and it's still worth a modest amount, we'll sign people up.

There is a glimmer of hope, however.

If Marcus can trace any siblings for Alan Fisher, they might know if he had assets.

The first step to finding out is to find Alan's family.

The team put together his family tree. They can trace the growth and the decline of the tree

and see who is in line to inherit.

The good news is that they already have one vital piece of the puzzle.

From the death we've been able to identify birth and he was born in Cockermouth, in the northwest.

We've also identified the parents' marriage. The father is brilliant. His name is Younghusband Fisher.

Rather superb. He was one of about nine or so children.

The name Younghusband is solid gold as it is so unusual.

It's a real boost to the investigation.

He married Alan's mother Mary in 1911 and they had nine children.

Alan was the youngest of these, so Marcus may have his work cut out finding any siblings alive.

So the researchers are on the hunt for death records for Alan's siblings,

but it's highly likely another firm will be on the same track. Marcus needs to work fast.

Luckily, he's had an inspired thought.

He's going through the list of probates to see if any are listed for Alan's brothers and sisters.

This could really shortcut the hunt. There's a chance Alan may have had an inheritance in the past.

If he has, that could mean the case IS worth pursuing.

It seems Marcus made the right call.

We just got the probate for John Octavious Fisher, the brother of the deceased.

He died intestate.

John Fisher died in 2006. He left no will.

As he had no children, his siblings are heirs.

That means Alan was due a share of his brother's cash, but they need to confirm how much.

Now they have two things to speak to the family about -

who Alan Fisher's heirs might be and how much he inherited from John.

Thank goodness for the probate. It lists a key piece of information.

The two people mentioned are Charles William Morland and Annie Mary Hails Morland.

I've just been told that the sister of the deceased was an Annie M Fisher.

We've got a marriage of an Annie M Fisher to Morland. So this is definitely right.

This is a breakthrough.

Because they have a name and address for Alan's sister, Annie Morland,

Marcus is quick to find her number,

but something's concerning him.

She's in her late 80s.

The problem with that is that we don't normally immediately contact people of that age.

We try to contact their children. I'll just be extremely gentle with her and see how it goes.

Another worry is that he might be the one to break the news of her brother's death.

Mrs Morland? I'm ringing from a company called Fraser and Fraser.

We're probate researchers. Yes, it concerns the Fisher family.

I'm rather hoping that you would be the daughter of the late Younghusband Fisher.

And you had quite a large number of brothers and sisters.

I have to tell you...

I'm afraid to say it is your brother Alan who has actually died.

-We were trying to find his next of kin.

-Often the heir hunters won't reveal who's died,

but as Annie is close kin, Marcus bends the rules.

Thank you so much for your time. Hopefully we'll speak again. Bye.

The conversation has provided Marcus with some intriguing information.

Alan apparently left the family home when he was 17. Nobody ever heard from him from that day to this.

This is the first that she knows about Alan having recently died.

She had no contact with him for years.

The interesting thing for us is his brother John Octavious Fisher who died a couple of years ago,

Alan would have been entitled to share in his estate

and his share was worth about £40,000.

So...

this estate has gone from being worth a little bit more than five grand, but not very much more,

to plus 40 grand on top of that.

The good news is that the £40,000 sitting dormant in a bank account

is one step closer to finding its rightful owners, but knowing they hadn't heard from Alan for 55 years

leaves a big question mark over the case.

The problem with this estate, although we now know the full extent of the family,

because the family came from the northwest and the deceased ended up living down in London,

it may well be that between the northwest and London he married once, twice, three times,

had any number of children who would have a prior claim over other members of the family.

Coming up: with the news that Alan Fisher left at least £40,000,

-the race is on to sign his heirs.

-Mr Barlow?

-But the question is: will they find them?

-I'm trying to trace a lady called Janet

who would have been Fisher? Is that yourself? ..It isn't.

Thank you for your time. So sorry to trouble you, anyway.

Many cases the heir hunters tackle involve people with large estates who have lost contact with family.

Finding someone's relatives can be a daunting task. Perhaps you could be due an inheritance?

Dorothea Alice Williams lived in Telford, Shropshire.

She was 88 years old when she passed away and left £27,000.

Are you related to Dorothea? If so, you could be due her estate.

Mini-Francis Marsh died in Clapton, London, in March 2004.

She was 86 years old and left an estate of £20,000.

Are you related to Mini? Could her cash belong to you?

Arthur Ronald Sergant Slade passed away in Birmingham at the age of 77.

He left £20,000.

If you have any information to help solve these unclaimed cases, then take a look at our website:

The heir hunters handles thousands of cases like Alan Fisher's every year,

about people who die having lost touch with their families.

Occasionally they come across a case that is about the bigger picture,

where the very act of claiming the inheritance is a statement for the greater good.

When case manager Bob Smith first encountered the file of Oswald Bowley, seen here at a wedding,

he knew it would be different.

This is an unusual situation.

Normally we deal with people's estate, which is their house or money in the bank.

-In this case it was compensation due to Oswald.

-Oswald was a miner who died in 1976 aged 64,

but it wasn't until several decades later that Frasers took on the case.

Oswald was due compensation for health problems caused by his occupation,

-but it could only be paid out to his heirs.

-I'm led to believe the compensation is £6,000 or £7,000.

It's not life-changing amounts, however, it is recognition of Oswald and the suffering he endured.

Worksop, Nottinghamshire, 19 miles southeast of Sheffield, once the heart of coal mining country.

The mines dominated this area for over 100 years.

At one point, tens of thousands of men worked these pits.

Oswald was a miner for many years. Gordon Flint remembers his fondly.

I'm Oswald's step-grandson, but to me he was the only grandfather I knew,

so he was always Granddad Mick to me. Everyone called him Mick.

No idea where it comes from.

I have very fond memories of him spending time with me as a child.

Oswald had married Gordon's grandmother Ida in 1950.

They were both on their second marriages. They set up home in this house in Worksop.

Gordon remembers that Oswald was always larger than life.

He got me and himself into trouble, bought me pets when I don't think my parents were expecting them.

And quite a bit of a character. Spent quite a bit of time in the pub, I seem to recall,

from comments by my grandmother.

But a very generous and kind person.

A group of Oswald's drinking buddies from the colliery remember him fondly.

He was a good bloke to talk to, have a chat to.

"What are you doing, George?" That's all I can remember. I don't remember a lot.

I was a manager and I remember the name Bowley.

I think he had a nickname Ozzy.

As far as I can recollect, his job was as a packer.

Ron Booth, an ex-miner and local historian knows just what Oswald's day would have been like.

His job would be to come on shift after the coal was stripped off.

He'd build these packs, built with bits of stone that fell down, in-between,

coal, and he'd build this pack up to the roof with all the old rubbish and that stopped subsidence.

Coal mining was hard and dangerous work.

Ron remembers all too well what life was like underground.

You'd walk down 3-4 miles to the coalface.

You'd scramble through, two or three times a day, on your knees.

What happened down the pit was you stripped off to the waist. You just had shorts on.

And your pit boots. It was hot, really hot.

I mean, it were a good job for slimming.

They shovelled all that coal, which was probably 12 tons.

It would be a tough life, sweating,

breathing dust, noise, clank, clank.

You can't believe the noise you had. It was terrible.

But it was the coal dust that created the biggest problem.

You couldn't see. Especially when you were jibbing in and put your hand here.

You couldn't see your hand.

Rudimentary safety equipment was provided,

but its use was never enforced.

Remember them dust masks?

Oh, yeah. What did you call them? One lad used to put these masks on in the pit bottom.

We laughed at him, but did he know something that we didn't?

-I wish now I'd put mine on.

-Yes!

Miners' health now, most of them have got breathing problems.

A lot of them are terrible. They can hardly walk.

They were on their knees 6 or 7 hours a day.

30 years down the pit on your knees.

And white finger with holding pneumatic drills

and shaking your wrists. Day after day after day.

It shattered the nerves in the wrist.

Oswald became a victim of some of these hazards and it changed his life dramatically.

I do remember him not being able to walk very fast. His breathing was shocking.

He could hardly breathe at times and this got worse and worse as he got older.

He became quite disabled, couldn't walk very far.

He used to come up to my parents' on a moped.

That's the lasting memories of him, coming into the house with his old-fashioned helmet on.

After a lifetime of breathing coal dust, the soft tissue in Oswald's lungs was dying,

making it impossible for him to breathe.

Finally, in 1976, Oswald passed away.

His death certificate lists emphysema as one of the causes, known to miners as black lung.

If Oswald had the chest disease, I'm not surprised.

You imagine coal cutters cutting the coal, the dust,

loading it onto conveyor belts, one to another, until it gets to the loading point.

All that dust was all over the place and most of the old lads had this chest disease

and there was no compensation.

In 1998, 22 years after Oswald's death,

it was recognised that British Coal should have provided better safety for their workers.

A compensation deal was struck and backdated to 1954.

Even though it was nearly 20 years after Oswald's death, he qualified.

It took another decade before Fraser and Fraser became involved.

Bob Smith worked the case.

'We were contacted by the solicitors administrating Oswald's estate.'

There is compensation due to him, but that cannot be paid to his estate

unless we find a family member to administer the estate and benefit from it.

When Bob and his team began the research, they found it was fairly straightforward to track his heirs.

We established that Oswald had been married twice with no children from either marriage.

We therefore found Oswald's parents and also established that Oswald had five brothers and sisters.

Four of those, unfortunately, died as small children, but one sister had survived.

She married and had two children,

so we were able in this case to find people that could benefit from Oswald's estate and his compensation.

It seems that Oswald's sister Ellen had two children, James and Alan.

James had three children and they are all heirs to Oswald's estate.

Susan Greenwood is his great-niece, a pub landlady in Reigate.

She was amazed when she heard she would have a share of Oswald's £6,000 compensation.

It's very surprising that it's come to light now.

Obviously, he died in '76 and 30-odd years later...

you get a phone call to say you may inherit some money,

so it was out the blue and it was quite a shock, to be honest.

It's just a shame that he didn't get it for himself because it would have helped him more.

For mining expert Ron Booth, the compensation was a matter of principle.

I think they're worth every penny they've got for it.

People say, "Oh, miners," this, that and the other.

If you've never worked down a mine, you don't know what you're talking about. It's hard work.

People say it's mechanised. It's still the same dangerous job.

Because Oswald's step-grandson Gordon wasn't a blood relative, he is not in line to inherit.

He thinks it's a shame Oswald didn't get the money in his lifetime.

He never earned a lot of money and what he did have, he tended to spend fairly easily.

A very generous man. And certainly in his latter years, he was very short of money.

My parents helped him out a lot and looked after him.

It would've been nice for him to have it, I would have thought.

It's Day 2 and travelling Heir Hunter Ewart Lindsay is on the quest

to find the heirs to the estate of Alan Fisher.

The family knows nothing about him. He walked out when he was 17 and didn't return.

Apparently, he's got about £40,000 coming to him from his brother's estate.

We've got to tie up the loose ends on this case.

You know, in terms of trying to find out about his marital status.

Alan lived in this block of flats for more than a decade,

but even his neighbour Nellie didn't know much about him.

I don't think he had anybody else. He never had any visitors. Very small. He wasn't big.

Not really noticeable. Just dressed plainly and...

Just as if he wanted to fade in the background.

Now he's at the forefront of the Heir Hunter investigation.

Yesterday, they found out that Alan had eight siblings, but something is bothering Case Manager Marcus.

The worrying thing about it is because the deceased was born in Cockermouth, then died in Enfield,

you've got anywhere in between he could have married and the worry is that he may have married.

We've not found anybody that knew if he had been married or not.

There's a possibility that there is somebody else that's entitled before the heirs that we've got.

If Alan Fisher did marry and have children, they would be the first to inherit Alan's cash.

And with an estate of £40,000 in the balance, it is likely that rivals will be hot on their heels.

The race is on.

In order to ensure they have all the heirs,

Marcus needs to find every marriage listed for an Alan Fisher in the UK

and then eliminate them one by one.

And the name Alan Fisher is not exactly unusual.

His father was Younghusband Fisher - what a brilliant name!

He was plain Alan Fisher, so it makes it a bit more difficult.

We've got a long list of marriages for Alan Fisher all over the UK. He could have stopped off anywhere.

220 miles north of London in Bolton, another mobile agent Dave Mansell has been pulled on to the case.

As he's up north, he'll be the one paying a visit to Stella, Alan Fisher's niece.

He's just called her to confirm the appointment and he's had some marvellous news.

He's keen to tell Marcus.

Really? Good stuff. OK, mate. Speak to you later. Bye.

Superb. That was Dave Mansell.

He's made contact with a niece of the deceased.

He's gonna see her at 12 o'clock.

She'll pick her sister up at the same time and they'll be seen together.

It looks like they have six heirs.

Of the nine Fisher siblings, only two are still alive - Annie Morland and Sarah Fisher.

Another sister, Barbara, who has passed away, has three children - Stanley, Barbara and Stella.

Alan was their uncle, but there's more to find.

Another heir they know of is Alan's niece Madeleine, Wilson Fisher's daughter, but they can't trace her.

They hope a rival firm hasn't already contacted her.

Dave Mansell is driving the 100 miles from Bolton to Cockermouth.

He's off to see Alan's nieces Stella and Barbara.

He gives Stella a call.

I'm on my way. It'll probably be 12.30 before I get there. We've had a delay on the motorway.

-'He's gone for my Auntie Sally an' all.'

-Brilliant. I'll see you in a while.

-'Bye.'

-Bye.

Her husband set off to go and get her sister.

And their auntie who is 95. So there'll be three people to speak to when we get to the house.

It's a coup to see so many heirs all at once. He will see Barbara, Stella and her husband James...

-Mr Barlow?

-Yes.

-David Mansell from Fraser & Fraser. I spoke to your wife earlier.

-Yes, come in.

-Thank you.

And he is also seeing Sarah, Alan's 95-year-old sister who is a little camera-shy.

-Do you know when your father was born, his date of birth?

-5th of March.

-5th of March?

-Yeah.

He would've been 100 this year.

-He would've been 100 this year?

-Yeah, he'd be 100 in March.

-So that was 1908?

-Aye.

-Yeah.

-Cor!

-How many times have you been married?

-Just the once.

-What do you mean, "How many?!"

Whilst Dave does the paperwork, Stella reflects on his visit.

Oh, I was surprised. It isn't every day somebody comes and tells you you'll get left some money.

Just really surprised, yeah.

I hadn't seen him since I was a lass. I didn't know if he was still alive or not

because nobody had heard from him.

Thankfully, now the family knows what happened to Alan.

It's just after lunch and Marcus is on tenterhooks.

Did Dave get there before any rival companies and did they sign to Frasers?

I'm just about to phone Dave now and see what he's got.

It's been long enough. How long has he been missing?

About two and a half hours, it seems!

-'Hello, mate, it's me.'

-Hiya, Marcus.

-How are you doing?

-We've signed up four heirs.

-You've signed four?

Yeah, three generations.

-One of the girls. You know Madeleine and Linda? Linda's deceased.

-Right.

-We signed Madeleine as well.

Dave's done a great job. That's two generations of Fishers in one sitting -

Alan's sister Sarah and three nieces, Stella, Barbara and Madeleine.

But the same old thought is nagging at Marcus.

They are aware that they might not be entitled to anything if we find out he was married with kids?

Yeah, I explained it all to them. They've not seen him for over 55 years.

'Right. Could they remember the name of Joseph's daughter?'

They thought it may be Janet.

That's brilliant stuff, mate. Well done.

So Dave beat the competition and Marcus can breathe a sigh of relief.

So that's it. Good result.

We still don't know if the deceased was married with kids, but a good result - four people in one hit!

There is an added benefit to the Heir Hunters contacting the Fishers.

They've been able to tell them where Alan was for the last 55 years.

It's been nice for the survivors who are in their late 80s, early 90s respectively,

it's resolved for them, before they die, before their life comes to an and,

what happened to their baby brother.

When you get a big family like that, the youngest one is always the one everyone feels protective about.

But he just walked out. He didn't come back one day. Now they know.

Signing four heirs is a masterstroke, but they're not out of the woods yet.

They need to press on and find more of Alan's family.

From Dave's meeting, Marcus now has the name of another niece.

We've got a possible name, John, for the daughter of Joseph and Evelyn - Janet.

I'll go and check that.

Alan's niece Janet is the daughter of Joseph Fisher and an only child.

It seems Joseph left the family home in Cockermouth when he was young

and didn't keep in contact with his family, so they couldn't provide any details for Janet.

The Heir Hunters know she was born in Watford in 1942. There's a good chance she'll be married by now.

By cross-referencing birth and marriage records with electoral rolls in the Watford area,

they hope to find her quickly, but Janet and Fisher are common names, so they have several to choose from.

I've got four phone numbers for people called Janet born in 1942 in the Watford area.

I'm hoping that one of them is Janet Fisher or was Janet Fisher before she married.

It's a shrewd short cut. By calling the Janets on the list,

there's a good chance he'll find the right one.

One down and no joy.

Hello. Is that Mrs Jones?

I'm so sorry to trouble you. My name is Marcus Herbert.

I'm ringing from a company in London called Fraser & Fraser, we're probate researchers.

I'm trying to trace a lady called Janet who would have been born as Janet Fisher. Is that yourself?

It isn't. Thank you for your time. I'm so sorry to trouble you. Bye.

No. That's all I can do today on that.

Marcus knows he needs to find Janet before the competition, but he still feels confident.

I've had a rip-roaring day really.

Um... Basically, we've found everybody just about that we've needed to find.

Except for... The deceased had a brother called Joseph, who had a daughter Janet.

We've identified her birth, she's still got to be found.

The only thing we're still worried about is if the deceased married.

Born up north, ended up in the south, could've married anywhere.

It's late in the day and the team are thinking about heading home,

but Marcus decides to give the search for Janet Fisher one last shot.

We were looking at Janets born in 1942 in Watford.

And there's a son with a date of birth living with her.

I look the birth of the son up and it gives the mother's maiden name as Fisher. Janet is living in Watford.

It's a great moment. Marcus's hard work has paid off. He phones travelling Heir Hunter Ewart.

-Ewart, it's me. I've found Joseph and Evelyn Fisher's daughter Janet.

-Perfect. Perfect, yeah.

Coming up - the Heir Hunters are pleased that they have the Fisher clan wrapped up. Or have they?

We've got all of Alan Fishers' marriages to tackle today. I've kind of lost the will to live!

The Heir Hunters' job is to fill in the gaps of people's lives,

tracing long-lost family members in order to give them an inheritance.

Perhaps you could be due a windfall.

Baldrick James died in Leicester in 2004. He was 78 years old

and left a cash sum of £19,000.

John Jones passed away in Luton.

He died in December 2004 at the age of 53,

leaving a sum of £20,000.

Boris Bilacon passed away in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

He was 80 when he died, leaving a legacy of £20,000.

If you have information which could help solve these unclaimed cases,

then take a look at our website:

It's Day 3 on the case of Alan Fisher,

a shy, retiring man who had lived in this block of council flats in Enfield

and left an estate of £40,000.

After tracking down his relatives, the Heir Hunters have found that he left home 55 years ago aged 17

and they have no idea what happened.

They have signed four heirs and are hoping to get to one more,

but as they know so little about Alan's adult life, a huge question mark hangs over the investigation.

If he was married with issue, there are others with a prior entitlement to benefit from his estate,

rather than the people that we have already found

who are nephews and nieces and two siblings.

In Watford, travelling Heir Hunter Ewart is enjoying a visit close to home for a change.

I've got an appointment in Watford which is probably a bit less than two miles away from where I live

to see a Mrs Hicks

and she will be a niece of the deceased.

As Ewart arrives to see Alan's niece Janet Hicks,

Marcus wrestles with a long list of possible Fisher marriages.

We've got all of Alan Fishers' marriages to tackle today and I've kind of lost the will to live!

We've eliminated about five out of about 30 so far.

And we've still got about another 20-year search to do.

Back in Watford, the good news is Janet has signed to Frasers,

but when it comes to the Fisher family, she wasn't much help.

Her father Joseph had brothers and sisters and she didn't know much about them whatsoever.

You could see the reason why. Her father left Cockermouth in about 1952

and came down to live in Watford.

She hadn't been in contact with her aunts and uncles for over 50 years, so it's understandable.

Nevertheless, she signed, so, you know, it's good for me.

It's good for my figures.

Ewart phones in to the office.

-Good news, Marcus.

-She signed?

-Yeah, Mrs Hicks signed.

Quite a nice lady. I'm afraid she didn't know much about the family.

She was the one that I think her father was, along with the deceased,

one of the ones that they didn't know where he was for a few years.

The Fisher clan is certainly large, but obviously not that close.

And it's a tragic coincidence that Winchmore Hill where Alan lived

and Joseph's home in Watford are less than 20 miles apart.

But it seems the brothers never knew they lived so close.

With Janet's signature on the contract, the Heir Hunters now have five heirs confirmed -

Alan's sister Sarah and four of his nieces, Barbara, Stella, Madeleine and Janet.

But they will have nothing to claim if the office find that Alan Fisher married and had children.

And it seems their fears are about to be realised.

Yeah, we got a marriage in Enfield.

Yes, in 1968.

The office may have found the marriage of the deceased,

a possible marriage when he was about 37.

So that's good. So we'll head to Enfield and try and obtain that marriage.

Marriage certificates list couples' parents and although Fisher is a common name,

Ewart is confident the Alan Fisher they're looking for will stand out.

You know, his father has got a very, very good name. Fantastic name.

And it's Younghusband.

One word. It's not two separate words.

It's Younghusband Fisher.

And on this particular marriage I'm picking up in Enfield,

if the father was Younghusband, it's the correct marriage.

And then the guys could go ahead and look for children,

look for issue of that marriage.

It's not impossible. He was 37 years of age when he got married,

when this particular Alan Fisher got married.

It's a nail-biting moment. The Heir Hunters have invested three days of hard slog on this case.

This certificate could turn everything on its head.

Turn of a coin and it changes.

-But just as Ewart arrives at the Register Office...

-Almost at Enfield Register Office.

Gonna give Ewart a call and break the happy news to him.

Ewart, it's me. That Enfield marriage for Alan Fisher is wrong.

We've just found some bits and pieces which proved it's wrong.

That one's 16 years younger than ours, so forget all about that.

After all that, it was a false alarm and there's not much more Marcus can do on the Fisher case.

He has plenty to be pleased about with five heirs signed,

but Alan's marital status is still a mystery.

The niggling problem of the deceased's own marriage, yes or no, did he or didn't he?

There you go.

The Heir Hunters can't process the claim until they have ensured they have found every heir.

A long period of time is unaccounted for in Alan's life, so did he marry?

Nellie thought he wasn't the type.

He was just the sort of person who goes in the background, very quiet and...

And always smiled if you spoke to him.

But didn't really want to engage in conversation.

He seemed nervous of everybody.

It's three months since the team began the investigation

into Alan Fisher and there's been a twist in the tale.

Brilliant case. The research went extremely well.

It was fairly straightforward. It wasn't too difficult to research.

It was nice that we found siblings of the deceased, interesting names.

But the family decided to go it alone.

As the heirs decided not to have Frasers' help to submit the claim,

Marcus will never know if Alan Fisher married and had children.

But you win some, you lose some.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2008

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