Smith Heir Hunters

Heir hunters track down families of people who have died without leaving a will.

They hand over thousands of pounds to relatives who had no idea they were in line for a windfall.

Could they be knocking at your door?

Today, two very different cases for the heir hunters, involving big money and family secrets.

Why Marie Smith's refusal to take advice...

-She should have made a will.

-..resulted in her fortune passing on to someone else.

She's left several thousand pounds.

And why for Paul Matthews, heir hunting is like poker.

-Can you spare me 30 seconds?

-You can never be sure you have a full house.

Plus a number of unclaimed estates worth nearly a quarter of a million pounds.

Could you be in line for 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 be the first to track down any relatives entitled to inherit.

Fraser & Fraser is one of the oldest firms of heir hunters in the UK.

We've found the brother's death.

In its 30-year history, the company has tracked down over 50,000 heirs,

entitled to a whopping sum of over 100 million pounds.

It's just after 7am and at Fraser and Fraser's central London offices, the staff are already hard at it.

Thursday's the day that the Treasury releases the Bona Vacantia, a list of unclaimed estates.

Under the guidance of Andrew Fraser, the heir hunters are lining up their choices.

Number seven sounds like a possible, don't it?

I'll look into it until we get the death certificate.

Senior case manager Tony Pledger is running the case of Mrs Marie Smith, assisted by Marcus Herbert.

By searching Frasers' data on births and marriages, he's already found out information.

We've identified that Marie Smith was married to James Smith.

And before she married, she was called Huggett. Born in 1914.

We know her husband pre-deceased her, so that's all sorted out.

What we need to do is actually find out if they've got any issue.

We've got people working on that. And find out if she had any siblings.

After her husband's death in 1988, Marie Smith lived in the family home in Hampshire for another 19 years.

Towards the end of her days, she suffered from dementia, but refused any help.

When the police found Marie, her home had fallen into a sorry state.

Despite the condition inside, it is a large property in a good area.

The heir hunters researched the property ownership and find that it's worth around £350,000.

As property makes up the bulk of someone's fortune, they can estimate that this is the estate's value.

If Frasers can find any of Marie's relatives, they will be entitled to everything she left behind.

One of those will be the death of her husband.

Because the estate is so large, it will attract a lot of attention

from rival heir hunters, so Tony needs to work fast.

Marie P.E.E. Huggett. It's on the land registry.

The researchers will do a sweep of Huggetts by searching through birth, death and marriage records.

But the most valuable document will be Marie Smith's death certificate.

And they're hoping the informant may be a potential source of information or even a relative.

David Pacifico puts in a call to one of Fraser & Fraser's travelling heir hunters, Bob Smith.

Bob's one of a squad of mobile agents employed by Frasers. They spend their Thursdays at the wheel,

ready to follow up leads and sniff out clues.

They also aim to get to any heirs before rival firms

and sign them up, earning the company a share of the claim.

At home in East Grinstead, traveller Bob Smith is ready to leap into action.

And even more so when he hears the value of the estate.

OK, mate. OK. Cheers, Dave. Bye.

This morning I'm off to the Register Office in Guildford to pick up a death certificate

of our deceased Marie Smith who died about 18 months ago.

Luckily, we won't be researching the name Smith as she was married and her maiden name was Huggett,

which strikes me as a reasonably unusual name. So in research terms that helps a little bit.

Certainly there are fewer Huggetts in the world than Smiths, so it will be easier to trace potential heirs.

Speaking of Huggetts, back in London, Tony and Marcus are getting to grips with that family's tree.

The first step is to identify Marie's parents. The heir hunters spend days writing family trees.

They use them like maps to find hidden treasure, working out how a family fits together

and who is in line to inherit.

After searching through UK birth, marriage and death records,

they may have found Marie's parents.

We found a marriage in 1895 of Walter Thomas Huggett to Clarissa Rapley.

-But Tony's found a problem.

-We might have found the marriage of the parents,

but 20 years before she was born.

It's unlikely they were married for 20 years and just had one child.

So a little bit more time has got to pass before we get a definite idea.

As most people would have children soon after marrying,

a 20-year gap should mean older brothers and sisters and possible stems to investigate.

But they have to find them first.

But with three heir hunters on the case, the puzzle is soon solved.

So we've got Walter J Huggett, Clarissa, Ruby M Huggett, a sister of the deceased,

and Thomas W W. Right. There could be a shed-load of more of them.

Soon the heir hunters have filled in a few blanks on the Huggett family tree.

Marie's parents were Walter and Clarissa Huggett. And she had a sister Ruby and brother Thomas.

But there's a 16-year space before Marie's birth. So are there any more siblings to add to the list?

In Guildford, Bob's got some news for Tony.

-I've got the death certificate of Marie.

-What did she die of?

-Cancer.

-But there's a fly in the ointment.

-Anglia Research rang up and asked for a copy of the death certificate.

OK. Ta. Bye. Bye.

That's upped the ante. The heir hunters now know a rival company is chasing the same job.

They need to find an heir fast. Bob's on his way to Marie's house.

I'm going to go down now to the address on the death certificate where she lived

and make enquiries there with the neighbours and such.

With the competition hot on their heels, Frasers are pulling out the stops.

Another travelling heir hunter, Bob Barratt, is sent to Reigate Register Office,

where Marie, Thomas and Ruby Huggett's births were recorded. They hope he'll find more siblings.

Frasers have to cover every branch of the family tree.

We've got an elderly decedent whose grandfather was born in about 1847.

They want to ensure they have explored every possible heir,

so they are checking Marie's parents to see if they had any siblings.

If Marie's siblings had died with no offspring, her cousins inherit.

The plan is to see who was in the Huggett and Rapley family households when Marie's parents were children,

so the heir hunters need to go back in time.

Every ten years since the year 1801,

the British government has taken a national population survey called the Census.

From 1841, this listed the names of all the people living at every address in Britain.

They are only released 100 years after they were taken. Marcus is looking at the 1891 Census.

The mother appears as a 15-year-old nursemaid on the 1891 Census.

So I've now got the 1881 Census, I've got that family. That's Rapley, Clarissa Rapley.

I've always liked doing Censuses.

We always do this even if we've got nearer kin or it looks like we have

because if the nearer kin have all died off, we need to look at the cousins.

And we can't wait as the competition would've got the cousins.

The race is on for just about everyone.

-Coming up - Marie Smith's secrets are revealed.

-She might've done a will and left in the wardrobe.

And the heir hunters have a case of half-brothers separated by time.

-And when was the last time you saw him?

-17 years ago. I went looking for him to find him for my mother.

Heir hunters follow clues to find heirs to unclaimed estates,

ensuring the money goes to them. Could you be due an inheritance?

Ellen McDonald died in Welwyn Garden City at the age of 75.

She left £28,000. Are you part of Ellen's family?

Or do you know someone who might be?

Pattie Fenella Lawson passed away in Halifax in 1996 at the age of 73

and left £42,000.

Are you related to Pattie? Could you be entitled to her cash?

John Joseph Ryan died in Lewisham in September 2005, aged 89.

He left £34,000.

For more information, visit:

Often, the heir hunters reunite long-lost kin.

And they can come across relatives who knew nothing of each other's existence.

The case of William Stirling was one such story. He was a retired engineer and a bachelor

who had lived in Birmingham. With no obvious next of kin,

his name soon appeared on the government's Bona Vacantia list.

It's 7.30am at Fraser & Fraser's offices.

Neil Fraser and Marcus Herbert are examining William Stirling's case

as they think it may be of some value.

They are short on detail and everything rests on his death certificate.

They hope the person who registered the death might be a friend or relative of William Stirling

who can tell them more about him. But other firms may be on the same case, so they need information fast.

OK, mate. I'm OK. Are you all right?

Marcus gives Frasers' Birmingham based agent, Paul Matthews, a call.

William Stirling - S-T-I-R-L-I-N-G.

He dies the 20th of October, 2007, in Birmingham. Haven't got anything else for him at the moment.

All right, mate. Speak to you in a bit. Right. Where are we now?

Still haven't got a clue where we're going.

Aware that other firms may be hot on his heels, Paul heads straight to the Birmingham Register Office.

-This one will do us.

-Give us a few minutes, we'll see what we can do.

Hopefully it'll tell us where he was born, the date of birth, and also the informant,

-as we still don't know if there's value in the estate.

-Right.

-Any joy?

-Good and bad.

-What's the good news?

-We've got an address for you.

-Nice one.

-And the bad news.

-OK, Glasgow.

-The informant was with the social services.

-Social services.

-So we could be having a quiet day then?

-Right. Is that it?

-I think so.

So it seems there is no shortcut to finding more about William.

But his former address in Birmingham may be useful to the investigation.

Paul calls Neil to update him with William's birthplace.

He was actually born in Glasgow.

Neil phones their Scottish researcher to get William's birth certificate ordered.

We have a William Stirling. Now, my information is a bit confusing.

Paul's at the property where William Stirling lived.

I'm outside the address in Moseley. Looks as though he's got a flat in a big house,

so maybe he was renting. But we won't know till I knock on the door.

Could you spare me 30 seconds? Thanks anyway. Cheers. Bye.

It's unlikely that many people will be at home at 10am, but Paul's not giving up.

One last house to try.

Paul's persistence pays off. But it's not good news.

He finds out that William Stirling didn't own the flat he lived in.

As property forms the basis of most estates, it doesn't bode well for the value of William's estate.

But more than that, he never appeared to receive any visitors.

Could it mean that he had no close family?

In the office, the team have been concentrating on this very question.

Having found out that his birth was in Scotland, they've tracked down William Stirling's parents.

And it's a bit of a surprise.

It seems his mother Mary and his father William Carr were never married.

But a year after William's birth, Mary married Peter Naylor,

and their children would be William's half-brothers.

But if he had brothers, why did he die alone?

-Hello, Neil.

-'Yes?'

-It's not his property.

-It doesn't sound like there's much money, but we've got the brothers John and George up to date.

-Yes.

George lives in Stoke-on-Trent, and as you're not doing a huge amount, I was going to ask you to go to?

-No problem. Speak to you later.

-'Bye.'

-Bye.

Neil believes the estate must be worth at least £5,000 or it wouldn't be on the government's list.

As Frasers operate on commission, it's worth pursuing, especially as they think they've found the heirs.

Now, at the moment, there's £2,500 per beneficiary. It's worth knocking on their door to see if they get it.

It's not really taken us that long to sort out.

But it's not something that's going to enable us to retire. It's a tiny bit of money we're dealing with.

So Paul is going to Stoke-on-Trent to meet William Stirling's half-brother, George Naylor.

And London-based travelling heir hunter Dave Hadley is travelling to Woolwich

to meet the other half-brother, John.

Dave reflects on what he finds to be the toughest part of the job.

I've got no idea how close he was to his brother

or if he's had any warning that his brother has passed away.

Even with his previous experience as a policeman, it's never easy.

I'll have to use lots of tact, diplomacy and some sympathy

cos I'll have to tell him that his half-brother is dead.

On the M6, as Paul is driving 40-odd miles from William's house in Birmingham to Stoke-on-Trent,

he questions why the brothers had lost touch.

I don't know if they even knew about each other.

So as he's illegit, has the mum put him straight out for adoption?

But having started something off and done some work, it's nice if you can take it to a logical conclusion.

But will he get a chance to resolve his case? He's arrived at George's house.

But he doesn't appear to be in.

Do you live here at all? I'm trying to get hold of Mr Naylor at No 13, George.

He's usually in, but he must've popped out.

While Paul strolls around the block, in the office, Neil's following up the Scottish connection.

The researchers are finding that getting information about William's father is difficult.

Just leave it as it is. We don't think there's much value on it.

We'll put through the work on the two brothers we've got. Then we may look at him later.

Thanks. Bye.

Coming up - the hunt for the Stirling heirs continues. But will it be worth it?

There are thousands of pounds of unclaimed cash sitting in the government's coffers.

Perhaps some of it could be yours.

Peggy Louise Glover passed away in Cheltenham at the age of 77.

She left £50,000, but no apparent heirs.

If you're related to Peggy, you could inherit her fortune.

Lillian Anne Dennis died in Nottingham in July 2004,

leaving £30,000. Could you be one of her heirs?

Joyce Butler passed away in Broomfield, Essex, in 2006.

Her unclaimed estate is worth £40,000.

Are you related to Joyce?

If you know any of these people,

please look at our website:

The heir hunters are pursuing the case of William Stirling.

They are convinced that the case is around £5,000

and they've tracked down two heirs, his half-brothers.

In Woolwich, heir hunter Dave Hadley is speaking to one of the brothers,

John Naylor and his fiancee.

Now, we believe that a relative of yours, from the Stirling side of the family, passed away last year.

I don't know how close... How close are you to the Stirling side of the family?

-That's my mother's side.

-It was your mother's maiden name.

-Yes. My middle name is Stirling, you know that.

Um... We lost touch with the Stirlings when my grandmother died and I was about 14.

The person in question is what we call a near heir, in that it's actually your half-brother.

-I don't know if you were aware of him?

-Yes. I have a half-brother, William. He's dead?

-Yes.

It was the moment Dave was dreading. And he can see John is shocked.

And it's a difficult call for Paul up in Stoke-on-Trent.

He's found William's other half-brother.

Someone from Frasers' office in London has broken the news to him,

but the result is the same. It's a shock.

-I'm sorry about the bad news.

-Where was it, do you know?

-In Birmingham.

-I've spoken to his landlady.

-We were looking for him.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Oh, dear. But he's been with this lady as a tenant for 35 years.

-Yeah. We were looking for him.

I'm sorry about that.

-When was the last time you saw him?

-About 17 years ago. We went looking for him to find him for my mother.

Both brothers had attempted to make contact with William in the past.

I arranged to meet him one Saturday in a pub in Birmingham, which I did. But I've never seen him since.

My brother arranged for me to meet him. And I met him to make sure it was him.

And we arranged to bring my mother to meet him and he wasn't there.

-So...she was a bit upset.

-Were there any sort of family problems?

-No.

-Or was he just his own man?

-He just wanted to be on his own, yeah.

-I won't say there's any love lost between us, but...

-But it's still your half-brother, isn't it?

That's right. I'd like to know how his life ended up and what he went through.

I don't know how much is involved.

They don't publish the figures when they advertise these things.

I don't know how much you'll be entitled to.

-This is an awkward time for us. We're getting married next week.

-Congratulations.

I don't know if this is a good present.

-He was always careful with his money. He was the quiet one, really.

-Oh, right.

-Was he a bachelor?

-As far as I know, yeah.

-I don't think he's the marrying type.

-I doubt he got married.

-You don't know where he was living?

-Last I knew, he was in Birmingham.

-So how long will it take to sort out?

-Unfortunately, we don't know...

-I'm not bothered about that, anyway.

-It's just sad that you never managed to find him. Do you know who his father was?

-I've no idea.

We were always brought up as equals, you know. There was never... My dad never said, "You're not my son."

That was never mentioned. It was always just...

That's right and proper and the right way to do things

-cos there's no reason not to, is there? But he was illegitimate, yeah?

-I suppose you'd call it that.

-We actually found that his dad was a William Carr.

-William Carr?

-Mean something to you?

-No.

Paul goes through the paperwork and George agrees to allow Frasers to help him submit his claim.

-Nice meeting you.

-Thank you.

-All the very best.

-Thanks very much, Dave.

-OK. And I hope your wedding goes well.

-Thank you.

But things aren't all signed and sealed in London.

Dave's left John Naylor the paperwork as he decides he'd like to think it over.

George, who is closest to William in age, is still coming to terms with the news.

Shocked. Not expecting this at all.

Completely out of the blue, you know.

Um... We just had no... No contact.

We spent that long looking and never finding him, like, you know.

An important part of the job for the heir hunters is passing on news like this.

At least he knows what's happening. So now he's got some sort of closure on it.

Frasers continue their research into the Stirling case, wanting to ensure they find all the heirs.

They look closely at the William Carr branch of the tree

and find out some surprising news.

Quite by luck and pretty good research in Scotland, we were able to identify a marriage for William Carr.

He married a Margaret Pearson and had four more children. So these are half-blood siblings of the deceased.

William's father had married just two years after William was born.

And he had two sons, Brian and Alexander.

And then two daughters, Pearl and Wilma.

All of these children are heirs to William's estate.

There are now six beneficiaries. If the estate is only £5,000,

they won't get much each. But there's a twist in the tale.

We've had some great news, virtually. Whereas we thought it was maybe £5,000, £6,000, £7,000,

the confirmed value now is £29,000.

William's paternal half-siblings will receive a welcome windfall.

But did they know about their brother, William Stirling?

We've spoken to them and they weren't aware that their father was in a relationship

prior to him marrying their mother.

John Naylor has a few ideas of what to do with the money.

If I get any inheritance, I might take the family on holiday or just generally look after the family.

And celebrate it a bit. And buy those luxuries that we haven't had.

Maybe buy myself a nice motorbike.

But George is more philosophical about it.

I'd sooner have him than the money.

Yeah.

It's 11 o'clock on a Thursday in Fraser & Fraser's office

and the heir hunters are four hours into the case of Marie Smith.

It's a valuable estate of £350,000. But they haven't made much progress.

Anglia Research asked for a copy of the death certificate.

With rival companies in the race to find heirs, they need results fast.

Case manager Marcus Herbert has received some exciting news from Bob Barratt at Reigate Register Office.

Bob's phoned and he's done a general search and managed to identify three other siblings of the deceased.

That brings the total to five. Lillian Mabel Huggett born in 1901,

but after the '01 Census, which is why she didn't show up. Mum was probably pregnant at the time.

Dorothy Winifred C Huggett - the C must be Clarissa after her mum.

There's a Leslie Scott SJK Huggett. I don't know what the "SJK" is.

So we've got five siblings of the deceased. And we now know that the deceased didn't have any issue,

so we're hoping of one of her brothers or sisters, there'll be children from there.

It's a breakthrough. That crucial information takes the case to a new level.

The heir hunters have completed the second tier on the family tree.

They found that Marie had five brothers and sisters -

Ruby, Thomas, Lillian, Dorothy and Leslie.

But all five of them are dead.

However, there's still hope. If any of Marie's siblings had children,

they would be her heirs.

Frasers must get to them before the competition.

Mobile agent Bob Smith is in Marie Smith's old neighbourhood.

He's hoping her neighbours can shed more light on Marie's family connections.

Nobody home.

Sorry to bother you. I'm enquiring about the lady who lived next door.

-There is a niece somewhere.

-Right. Interesting.

It's confirmed their hopes.

There was a niece who never visited. But a neighbour used to visit Marie, so we'll try and contact her.

So Marie did have one regular visitor, but it wasn't a relative.

Perhaps she can fill them in on possible family members. But Bob's not sure how to find this woman.

By luck, another local provides the answer.

-She's moved over to Firglen Drive.

-Called Pat?

-That's right.

-There's an entry to an unmade road.

-Oh, right.

A simple task, or so it would seem.

Negotiate all the potholes.

He's beginning to wonder if he should have packed his wellies.

They're all up that road there.

They're not called travelling heir hunters for nothing.

Bob may not be making progress, but in the office they're forging ahead.

They've tracked down a marriage

for Marie's brother Thomas to Dora Miller.

Then they've traced a daughter, Vera. Could this be Marie's niece?

Born in 1920, this would make her rather elderly,

which may explain why she stopped visiting Marie.

Oh, it's a lake, a fishing lake.

Eugh!

Beats walking on a farm.

Bob's arrived at Marie Smith's former neighbour's house.

Success.

He hopes she'll know more about Marie's niece.

-Mr Johnstone?

-Yes.

-I was hoping to speak to your wife.

The husband of the ex-neighbour is home.

-Apart from having a key to get in and out...

-There was no other real communication about the family?

-No. She is aware that there is a niece.

-But I'll leave my card with you.

-If we come up with anything...

Yes, particularly about the niece.

There's that mention of the niece again, but no name. And Bob's had his fill of country lanes.

In the office, Tony Pledger's been doing some research

into two of Marie's sisters, Lillian and Dorothy.

We knew Dorothy married Arthur Baker. We knew there was a Lillian as well.

It turns out that Lillian has also married a Mr Baker. So Lillian has married John Baker.

Dorothy's married Arthur Baker. There's two brothers married two sisters.

But their children would all be called Baker.

But until you got their certificate, you wouldn't be able to tell which couple the children went with.

Through records on file, the heir hunters have found a Gwyneth Baker,

another niece, and she was born nine years after her cousin Vera.

But as Lillian and Dorothy Huggett married two men called Baker,

they can't tell her exact parentage, making it difficult to trace her.

They cross-reference the birth and marriage records, and it's not long till they find something.

Roger's found a Gwyneth L Baker, born in 1929, in...

Wandsworth. So we will be doing a marriage for that in a moment. But that is a niece of the deceased.

So unless she's died off as an infant,

we'll get nieces, nephews, which is great so we don't have to go back on it.

So that now means they have two possible nieces for Marie Smith.

But as they were born in the '20s, they may be already deceased.

Bob's back at the car and phones his news through to Tony.

I finally spoke to Mr Johnstone. Apparently the deceased was not a very popular person

-and nobody really wanted to know her, sort of thing, so...

-OK. Bye.

-'Bye.'

It's just after lunchtime and at HQ, Marcus is feeling just fine.

Trawling marriage records has got a result.

Roger's found a marriage of Gwyneth Baker to a Mr Ward, niece of the deceased.

Tony calls the woman he hopes is Gwyneth Ward.

This could be their first heir.

-'Gwyneth Ward.'

-Mrs Ward, it's Tony Pledger from Fraser & Fraser.

He's found his woman. She is the niece and the sole survivor of the Huggett clan.

The other niece, Vera, died and there were no other children.

So Dorothy had a sister, Lillian? Right. OK.

Tony has to break the news of Marie Smith's death.

Unfortunately, your Auntie Marie has passed away.

We think that she's left possibly several thousand pounds, but doesn't appear to have left a will.

Well, she might've done a will and left it in the wardrobe!

But we don't think there is a valid will. I was wondering if one of our researchers could call and see you?

As the last of her generation,

she is now the only heir and is entitled to the whole of her aunt's £350,000 estate.

Tony needs to get someone out to sign Gwyneth up fast.

Have you been approached by anybody else? Yeah? Um... There is a possibility.

That's lovely. We'll make your acquaintance later on. Thanks. Bye.

She's confirmed that she's the only heir. Made an arrangement for us to go and see her at three o'clock.

Excellent. Who are we sending?

I don't know. I've got to find out where everybody is. But that's something to firm up on.

They have no time to waste. Tony phones Bob Barratt, who is searching for Huggett births in Reigate.

-Hi, Bob. Whatever you're doing we want you to stop as we've got one niece entitled on this job.

-Right.

-She lives in Loughton, Essex.

-Right.

-So we need you to go out there, hopefully for three o'clock.

-OK.

Right.

But just as Bob Barratt hits the road...

the intrepid Bob Smith gets wind of the race. He wants in on the action.

-Bob?

-'Hello.'

-Bob, hi. It's Bob Smith.

-'Hello, mate. How are you?'

Do you want me to do this appointment because I've done all the enquiring?

-That would be even better, wouldn't it?

-Yeah. Cheers.

So as Bob Barratt returns to base, one hour and several hairy traffic moments later,

Bob arrives at Loughton. But has he made it before the competition?

Hi, Mr Ward. Hi. It's Robert Smith.

The first job is to check a few family details.

Now, Mrs Ward, I understand you spoke with Mr Pledger, and he explained to you

-that your Aunt Marie who was Mrs...

-"Mairi."

-"Mairi", sorry. She was Mrs Smith.

-She died sometime last year.

-Mm-hm.

-If I may, I'd like to go through a little questionnaire with you

to ask you what you know about your family and Marie herself. And you were born as Baker?

-Your date of birth?

-23rd November, 1929.

-And what was your mother's name?

-Lillian Mabel Huggett.

Marie Smith is seen here in the blue suit at Gwyneth's wedding in the 1940s.

Bob wonders why they didn't keep in contact.

-She was a very nice person and at other times she was horrible.

-Yeah.

-She was super to her friends.

-Very, very generous. And then she told us never to contact her again.

-Really?

-This is why we haven't.

-We haven't been neglecting her.

-Sure.

-It was her request.

-Really?

-She thought we were after her money.

Gwyneth was once very close to her aunt, seen here together when she was a little girl.

A neighbour said she would upset people

-and it had put off people wanting to help her.

-She couldn't be close with two people at the same time.

-But she did suffer from dementia.

-We said she ought to make a will and she got uppity about it.

And so we left it. We thought, "If she makes a will, that's fine. Her money will go somewhere else.

"But if she doesn't, I shall get the last laugh." And I had it today.

But lots of people do think making a will spells the end for them.

-Anyway...

-It's a pity. It really is.

Gwyneth is obviously upset that her aunt was so prickly.

There's a terrible irony to why she lost touch with Marie.

We wondered what would happen. And I thought, "Well, if she's made a will, I'll hear no more.

"If she hasn't, I wonder if anybody will ever contact me because I am her only living relative?"

So when I heard this, I was rather thrilled to think that I had won

and she didn't do what I told her to do!

-Thanks very much.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you.

-Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Despite fierce competition from at least two companies, Bob was first to meet the heirs,

and he's left the paperwork for them to consider.

-'Hello, Bob.'

-Hello, Andrew. I've just finished the interview.

I haven't signed as they've got an appointment tomorrow with Kin UK.

It went as well as I think. It went very well, yeah. It went very well. Yeah. Yeah.

It's a month later. Gwyneth Ward has agreed to sign with Frasers.

And today, partner Andrew Fraser is meeting her at her Aunt Marie's house to discuss its sale.

-Morning, Gwyneth.

-Good morning.

-Welcome to your aunt's house.

-Yes.

-Please be warned, it's not great inside.

-Yes. OK.

The house is still in the same state as when Marie lived and died there.

Thank you very much. Oh. It is a bit of a mess. There's flies around.

It's a shame that people are allowed to live like this and it's left as it is.

But everyone probably offered help, but she wouldn't accept it. And unfortunately, that is what happens.

-I often think this is so sad, really.

-Yes.

In the office, there's the excitement of trying to find people.

And it all starts with very sad stories.

Despite the bad blood between her aunt and herself, Gwyneth would like to honour her memory.

You must've thought about what to do with this large sum of money when you actually do receive it?

Some of it I'll give to charities that my aunt would've liked it to go to.

I'll do that. Then I shall give it to my son and my daughter, the majority of it.

And then I shall go to South Africa.

This is a chance for her to reflect on her relationship with her aunt.

I don't feel guilty about it because I did what I could. And it was her choice.

It's a shame the place is in the state it's in when she was so careful with it.

But that's one of those things, isn't it?

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2008

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