Curtis/Knight Heir Hunters

Heir Hunters track down the families of people who died without leaving a will.

They hand over thousands of pounds to long-lost relatives who had no idea they were due a windfall.

Could they be knocking at your door?

On today's programme -

will the Heir Hunters get a breakthrough on one of their toughest cases yet?

Until we can find out her real maiden name, then we're stuck.

And what happens when the Heir Hunters uncover a 60-year-old family secret?

I received a note from Shirley and it says that, "You, Joyce, are my half-sister."

Plus, how you may be entitled to inherit some of the unclaimed estates held by the Treasury.

Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?

More than two-thirds of people die without leaving a will.

If they have no obvious relatives, their money goes to the government

who last year made a staggering £18 million from unclaimed estates.

That's where the Heir Hunters step in.

There are more than 30 heir-hunting companies who make it their business to track down the rightful kin.

Last year, they claimed back £6.5 million for unsuspecting heirs

who would otherwise have gone empty-handed.

Fraser & Fraser is one of the oldest heir-hunting firms.

Based in central London, it's run by Andrew, Charles and Neil Fraser.

George R Galloway. Who's got the marriages?

During the last 30 years,

they've helped over 50,000 unsuspecting heirs inherit over £100 million.

It's seven o'clock on Thursday morning and at their central London office,

the team are scouring the Treasury's list of unclaimed estates which has just been published,

looking for cases to investigate.

-I need a current phone number for them.

-I've got a couple in their 70s.

To appear on the list, estates must be worth at least £5,000,

but the Heir Hunters never know for sure if they're worth any more than that.

They can't identify any obvious high value cases,

but one case they've picked for preliminary investigations is that of Pearl Knight.

Pearl Knight died on the 3rd of October, 2007, in Seaford, East Sussex.

Prior to her death, she had spent five years at a care home.

Pearl came to us in February 2003.

She was a very lively lady, very friendly, very social.

She liked parties. She liked to watch her soaps with the other ladies and discuss what was going on.

She liked to have a drink with the other ladies.

We used to have a party for any excuse - birthday parties, Independence Day, St Patrick's Day.

And Pearl was always the first one there. She would have had a drink and when able, got up and danced.

She really enjoyed the event.

Pearl had quite a good sense of humour. She'd smack everybody's bum when we'd walk past.

Didn't matter who walked past. She would smack their bum and have a chuckle.

She had been referred to the Blatchington Court care home

as it specialises in looking after residents who require a higher amount of care.

As Pearl's dementia progressed, a lot of her character began to disappear.

She was less able to do things and she needed a lot more support from the staff

for everyday skills, washing, dressing, moving around the home.

So she became much more reliant on staff.

When Pearl passed away, she was very greatly missed by staff and residents.

She was a very social lady and very jolly and that was missed within the house for a while.

But the fun-loving Pearl is proving a bit of a tricky case for the Heir Hunters

as they're having trouble working out her last known address before she went into the care home.

It says she's a spinster, but I can't identify an address I like.

The one address which looks good has got a male living there with the surname of Knight,

which would sort of indicate that it's either her brother, her father or her husband.

I've got a mystery male and I don't know who he is.

The Heir Hunters need Pearl's birth name to search for heirs.

The problem is that although she was recorded as a spinster on the Treasury's list of estates,

they can't assume Knight was her birth name.

As she was living with a man also called Knight, he could have been her husband.

Unravelling this mystery will be down to senior case manager David Milchard and his team.

We don't even know it's got value on it yet.

Known in the office as Grimble, his 40 years' experience of heir hunting comes in handy on tough cases.

We don't know what her maiden name is.

On the death certificate, if she's married, it'll show the maiden name.

To get hold of this death certificate, one of their travelling Heir Hunters must do the legwork.

Frasers has a team of foot soldiers poised and ready to go wherever the hunt takes them.

Their job is to collect birth, death and marriage certificates,

-as well as interview people who knew the deceased.

-Thanks.

-OK.

Tracking down clues takes them all across the country

with the ultimate goal of finding and signing up heirs.

Bob Smith has worked for Frasers for over 14 years. He deals with investigations in the south-east.

In his time, he has visited countless heirs, neighbours and record offices across the region.

-I'll go to Eastbourne. I think that's where the death will be.

-'Eastbourne is Seaford, is it?'

I think so, yeah. I'm not totally sure. I think so, yeah.

As Bob heads off to the Eastbourne Register Office, head scratching in the office continues.

They've found that the mystery man is Hugh Knight and as he may have been married to Pearl,

research director Gareth is called in to start looking for marriage records.

If we can find Hugh's marriage, then hopefully we will find Pearl's maiden name at the same time.

The other alternative, obviously, is that Hugh isn't her husband

and she was just living with Mr Knight maybe.

We're just not quite sure what's going on,

so we'll start with looking for the Hugh marriage and hopefully, that will clear things up for us.

If Pearl and Hugh were married, Pearl will have a maiden name

which the Heir Hunters need to be able to find her blood relatives.

If Pearl and Hugh are brother and sister, then Knight is her birth name

and they need to trace the rest of the Knight family to find entitled relatives.

Or is there another explanation?

Until they can confirm any of these facts, they need to explore all possibilities.

A potential marriage for Hugh A...

And if this is right... We'll quickly cross-reference it.

March 1938.

So, the 1938 for "Hugh A" is incorrect.

We were hoping it was gonna be to Pearl, the deceased, but he's married an "Amy L",

so we'll carry on looking.

The marriage searches for Pearl and Hugh have drawn a blank.

So if Pearl isn't Hugh's wife, but his sister, Pearl Knight would be her birth name.

But they're not having much luck with the birth searches either.

Because we can't find a birth for Pearl Knight, it could be that she's just not born in England and Wales.

We'll check Scotland and hopefully we'll check Ireland as well.

If we can get the death certificate, that will answer all our questions.

Bob has just arrived at the Eastbourne Register Office.

-Hello. Can I help you?

-Hi. I'd like copies of two death certificates.

-Died in Eastbourne?

-Well, one died in Eastbourne, one died in Seaford.

-Right. Lewes will have the one in Seaford.

-Oh, right.

-And the one for Eastbourne we can do for you.

-I could have sworn Seaford would be here.

-It depends what year actually.

-Well, it was this... Two years ago.

-It'll be Lewes.

-Definitely Lewes.

-There's the application form.

Unfortunately, it's not the right office for Pearl's death certificate, but he can get Hugh's.

-The priority service means Bob can get a copy straight away.

-Thanks very much.

-OK.

-Hello?

-'Dave, hi, it's Bob.'

-Hi, mate. How are you doing?

Good news and bad news. I got to Eastbourne and got the death of Hugh Knight.

-Yeah.

-Died 2nd of November, 2002.

-Yeah.

-And there's a nephew informant - a Peter Stafford Knight.

-Yeah.

-Now, the death of the deceased is actually at the Lewes Register Office.

-So, obviously, I've got to pop over there now.

-'OK.'

They might not have Pearl's death certificate, but they have a new bit of information to follow up -

the name of Hugh's nephew, Peter Stafford Knight, who may be able to help their enquiries.

As the researchers hunt for his contact details, speculation about Hugh and Pearl grows.

-I reckon they're living together.

-No, I think Pearl is his sister.

You see, Hugh is basically...

He's born 1906 in Epsom, quite well-to-do parents, whose mother is born in India.

So I think Pearl is probably born in India or something like that.

-That's what I'm going on at the moment.

-Right.

Gareth's researching of the census records is throwing up some interesting guesswork

about Pearl and Hugh's origins.

I found the 1911 Census of Hugh Knight.

And they're quite a well-to-do family.

Hugh's father is a Lloyd's underwriter and insurance broker and they have a servant living with them.

And the other thing is that the mother, Lily,

or Leily, as it looks to be, is born in India.

So they're quite a wealthy family.

So it could easily be that they're going to and from India,

which would explain why we can't find her birth here.

The Census has also identified the Knight family home - Wingfield House,

which was located in the leafy county of Surrey.

Whilst it has since been demolished, in 1911, it is recorded as being a large, 12-room house.

Not only was it home to the Knight family of five,

but also one servant, as well as a coachman, his wife and children.

If we're in the right family, there's gonna be some value here

because in 1911, they are very, very wealthy.

As Gareth races ahead expanding the Knight family tree,

case manager Grimble still has a niggling doubt about this premise.

-Well, my theory is they just lived together and she just took his name.

-Possibly.

-But she is described as a spinster.

-That's what I mean.

-I see where you're coming from now.

-Yeah.

Fair point.

If Grimble's hunch is right about Pearl not officially marrying Hugh,

but just taking his name and living together, that could spell trouble.

If that's the case, we will be... in a pickle, to put it politely.

Because if they never married and her death certificate doesn't show a maiden name for her,

then we're not gonna know what name she's born as, so we'd never get to the end of that.

As they try to unravel the mystery of Pearl Knight, will the Heir Hunters ever crack the case

and work out who her blood relatives and heirs will be?

Unless we can come up with something positive, I'm afraid this case is gonna go to the government.

Sometimes when someone dies, it's not only their financial legacy that is left behind,

but a key to unlocking the past.

When heir-hunting company Hoopers took on the case of Cyril Curtis,

they were to stumble across a family secret spanning almost 60 years.

We have to be very careful when we contact heirs

because we never know what's round the corner, we never know what we're opening up.

Certainly, in this case, that was apparent.

In 2008, Cyril Curtis died in Great Yarmouth, leaving an estate of £23,000.

He had lived to the age of 80 and in his later years was very reclusive.

Neighbour Barbara Yerrell lived next door to Cyril.

I found Cyril to be an extremely sort of a lonely person.

And I can honestly say that in the 17 years that I knew him,

I never, ever saw anybody go to his house.

So he wasn't a man that had too many friends, I would say.

He hadn't got too many friends.

But quite a likeable sort of person which I found very likeable.

As no obvious relatives have been found,

probate researchers Hoopers took up the challenge of finding any of Cyril's living family.

Founded in 1923, they are one of the UK's most established heir-hunting companies.

Could I get someone to have a look for a death for me? Anna?

From their central London office, their team of over 20 full-time researchers

has reunited thousands of heirs with unexpected windfalls.

Jeremy Ford is one of Hoopers' case managers who began investigating into Cyril Curtis's family.

At the very outset, it's very much a blank canvas scenario.

No idea what became of the deceased.

We were able to establish that he never married or indeed had any children

and was a child of Frederick and Helen Curtis,

who married also in Great Yarmouth, and we started piecing the jigsaw together.

The researchers were quick to find Cyril's brothers and sisters.

The grandfather Fred had been married twice and Cyril was one of his six children.

If any of Cyril's brothers and sisters or indeed their children were alive, they would be heirs.

We established that one of Cyril's brothers was Leonard Edgar Curtis.

On his death certificate which we obtained, we noticed that the informant on that was a stepson.

The name of the stepson, Robert Shepherd, gave Jeremy more details to search on,

so he concentrated his enquiries on Leonard's step-family.

-Leonard Curtis.

-Leonard Curtis...

Leonard Curtis.

-1944.

-1944. And where?

-Liverpool.

-With Tomlinson.

-There you go.

Liverpool, June '44.

-Is that him?

-That's the one.

-OK. Good.

We did trace the family and that brought us on to tracing a daughter

by the name of Joyce,

who later became Joyce Coley...

..whose mother was Emily

and we established that her parents never married.

It seems that in 1956, Leonard had a child Joyce with his partner Emily Shepherd.

Emily had had two previous children, Jill and Robert,

but as they weren't legally adopted by Leonard, they wouldn't be heirs to Cyril.

Joyce, on the other hand, was Cyril's niece and therefore an heir.

Joyce Coley was born Joyce Curtis and lives in Tipton in the West Midlands.

Come on.

The news of Cyril came as quite a surprise

as she had never known much about her father's family background.

I had no idea about Cyril or any other brothers or sisters.

Nobody had ever mentioned him, so he was...

It was a total shock to hear about such things, especially at my age.

Although she was brought up by Leonard, Joyce knew very little about her father's past.

I wasn't allowed to ask questions.

If I did at any time ask,

if I'd got any uncles, aunties or anything on my dad's side,

the question was never answered.

But when it comes to remembering her childhood, Joyce only has happy memories.

My dad was what we would call a gentle giant.

He was almost six foot four, 19 and a half stone.

He was quite a big chap.

And he was a real softie.

He always bought me everything I ever wanted.

Never questioned anything.

I did miss him. He was...Dad, a perfect dad.

And you couldn't want for anything more from him.

Although Joyce had been located, the case was by no means closed.

Hoopers needed to exhaust every lead before approaching the Treasury with their conclusions.

As the research continued, Jeremy was about to uncover a family secret that had been hidden for 60 years.

As a result of digging around a little bit more regarding the death of Leonard,

we established that the administrator of his estate was a lady by the name of Hilda Curtis.

And we thought, "Who is this person?"

So what we had to do next was try and fit her in.

And we did establish that Leonard did marry Hilda.

This marriage took place in 1944.

From that marriage, we carried out a birth search

and we established that he had a child from that marriage, a daughter, Shirley.

Prior to meeting Emily and having Joyce,

Leonard Curtis had married Hilda Tomlinson whom he never divorced.

Together, in 1948, they'd had a daughter, Shirley.

Like Joyce, she too was a niece to Cyril and an heir.

So we had found Leonard's marriage, a daughter from the marriage.

We had evidence of a subsequent relationship and a daughter from that relationship.

And we had the feeling that neither of them knew of the other's existence.

Jeremy knew to proceed with caution in breaking the news.

It's quite an emotionally involved situation.

They find out about their Uncle Cyril. They never even knew of this person.

And they found out that they had a half-sibling.

Leonard's previous daughter Shirley was three when he left the family home

and she never heard from him again.

As a result, Shirley has few memories of her father.

Today, her Auntie Marjory has come round to help remind her of him.

Now, Marge, you can tell me, that was Mum and Dad in 1944 when they got married.

-Yeah.

-Now, who were all these at the front?

-That's Ruth Pembleton's daughter.

-Right.

-That's Maureen, the younger sister of May.

Obviously, I'd wonder why they split up.

I didn't know whether perhaps it was because of work or whether there was anything else involved.

But it was just kept quiet. No-one would discuss it.

Yeah, but this one is a better one of your dad, I think.

-That's your mum.

-They were nice, those days, weren't they?

Almost 60 years after Leonard had left his wife and daughter, Shirley received the call from Jeremy

about the inheritance from her Uncle Cyril.

I knew my dad had two brothers and a sister.

I didn't really know their names... at that time.

I have since found out through family.

And then he went on to tell me that I had a half-sister called Joyce.

And I went silent with shock.

And excitement, really, at the thought that I had family out there that I never knew existed.

Getting her head around her new-found family has been a lot to take in.

Right.

-She was born in 1956.

-But she's got your dad's name here.

Yeah.

-So she's your half-sister.

-My half-sister.

'When Jeremy spoke to me from Hooper's and told me about Joyce,'

I said I'd like to meet her perhaps one day.

And he did say to me that if I wanted to, I could write a letter and he would forward it on to her.

I didn't hesitate. I just wrote a letter.

Probably a lot of garbage was in it, but I wrote...who I was,

that I was married with four children and that we both shared the same dad.

And it would be lovely to hear from her when she felt the time was right.

It's been five months since Shirley posted her letter,

-but she's not yet heard anything back.

-How are you going to feel, though, Shirl?

-She's had so much with your dad.

-It's very hard, but it's something I feel I need to do now.

-Are you going to meet up with her?

-Hopefully. I'd like to. But it all depends on her.

-I would like to.

-I just don't want you getting into a state.

-I know.

-I really don't.

-I know you're thinking of me.

-Hey...

-But it's not the same, is it?

No, but we'll just have to see what happens.

I'm hoping that one day she might get in touch when she feels it's right.

And it's a shock for her just as much as for me.

Having sent her letter, for now all Shirley can do is wait.

For every case that is solved, there are still thousands that stubbornly remain a mystery.

Currently over 3,000 names drawn from across the country are on the Treasury's unsolved case list.

Their assets will be kept for up to 30 years in the hope that eventually someone will remember

and come forward to claim their inheritance.

With estates valued at anything from £5,000 to millions, the rightful heirs are out there somewhere.

Today we've got two cases heir hunters have failed to solve.

Could you be the key? Could you be in line for a payout?

Miella Helen Roach of Newton Abbot passed away on 3rd January, 2006.

Does her unusual name ring any bells with you?

Do you know anything about her? Could you be a long-lost relation?

Reginald Wild died on 21st June, 2006, in Sheffield.

All trails to find his relatives have gone cold.

Could he be your long-lost uncle or cousin?

Could you be entitled to his estate?

The estates of Reginald, Miella and thousands of others are lying unclaimed in the Treasury.

Angela Manchee oversees all these cases.

The Bona Vacantia Division receives 2,500-3,000 new cases each year.

They'll be of varying amounts. Some will be a few hundred pounds, some will be many thousands.

There's probably a nucleus of cases within just a few thousand pounds

so we've got a lot of cases coming in all the time.

The staff of 20 do initial searches to find the family and advertise unclaimed estates.

I would say in about 30%-40% of our cases, we do find entitled blood relatives.

So it's probably quite a high proportion. That's why we're very keen for referrals to be made quickly

and if kin are there that they are traced quickly so we can not get involved.

We shouldn't be involved if there are people out there who are entitled to have the estate.

If no relatives are found, the assets are turned into cash and the clock starts ticking.

There's a period of up to 30 years for entitled heirs to claim.

If no heirs are found, or entitlement can't be proved,

the money becomes part of the public purse.

One case the Treasury couldn't solve is being investigated by Fraser and Fraser.

All day the team have been trying to unravel the mystery of Pearl Knight, who died in 2007 aged 94.

We thought she was a spinster, but there's a suggestion that she was, in fact, married.

So we're just looking into that at the moment. It's pretty unclear.

The problem facing the researchers is that Pearl is recorded as being a spinster,

but was living with a man of the same surname - Hugh Knight.

They can't clear up whether Hugh is a brother or a husband. Was she born a Knight or became a Knight?

So they don't know who her heirs might be.

-I've just looked at this...

-Possibly.

So far, the only lead they have is from Hugh's death certificate - the name of his nephew.

The witness on Hugh's death is a Peter Knight.

And I think he's actually passed away quite recently,

but it looks as if his wife is still there. She might be able to clear up the whole confusion.

Speaking to people who knew the deceased is usually the quickest way to move a case forward.

That witness, Peter, we're not 100% sure if he's still around. He may have died recently,

but...that is probably his widow. There you go.

Sometimes speaking to just one person can crack a whole case.

Grimble's hoping that Elizabeth Knight will have known Pearl.

Who's Fiona?

That was an answer machine, nobody there, for someone called Fiona.

-But he's having trouble getting hold of her.

-Hello. Is that Fiona?

Oh, right. Em... I'm trying to contact a Mrs Knight.

I phoned her number and I was told to contact Fiona.

Do you know Mrs Knight at all?

Right. Em...

Cos Hugh had a nephew, Peter, who I take it was Elizabeth's husband.

Right, OK. So there's no blood relationship between them?

Pearl just took the name Knight, I think. Yeah. That's the problem.

If we knew what her name was, maybe we could get somewhere.

OK.

Thank you very much. Bye-bye.

Just as I thought.

The reason I got referred to Fiona was that Mrs Knight died a couple of weeks ago.

That's a shame.

I don't quite know what Fiona's connection is. She might be the family solicitor.

Our Pearl Knight... never married Hugh. It was just a relationship.

She has just taken his name.

Unfortunately.

We've got no idea what name she was born with,

so it will be very difficult, very difficult.

The mystery about Pearl's relationship to Hugh is now solved.

She'd assumed the name Knight, but hadn't officially got married.

So a marriage certificate with the maiden name simply doesn't exist.

The team are still none the wiser as to who Pearl was.

My wonderful theory that the deceased was actually Hugh's...sister

is out of the water now. It turns out Pearl was just living with Hugh

and my idea that she was born in India is clearly rubbish.

All they can hope for now is that Pearl's death certificate contains her birth name or place.

That would at least give them somewhereto hunt for a Pearl born on 16th July, 1913.

Bob, one of Frasers' travelling heir hunters, is finally at the Lewes Registry Office to pick it up.

-I'm assuming you want it right away.

-Please.

-That's our priority service.

-£7 for the certificate plus a £10 priority fee.

-Fine.

-There you go.

-Thank you.

-And that's your receipt in there.

-Right, lovely. Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Unfortunately for Fraser's, the death certificate does not contain Pearl's maiden name

and the place of birth is only listed as England.

The informant is an occupier at the nursing home, so we'll go along there

and try to interview someone who may know about the family.

And get an indication as to whether she left any money.

Bob's made an appointment to see Lianne Sammers, the name on Pearl's death certificate

and the manager of the care home where Pearl lived for her final years.

Hugh was very important to Pearl.

She was very fond of him. "My Hugh", "My lovely Hugh". That was how she'd refer to Hugh.

It was a relationship of love

and I think Hugh and Pearl had different strengths.

Hugh's was looking after Pearl and Pearl's was letting him!

After his death, Pearl had moved into the care home.

It's unclear whether she had had a property to sell.

While Pearl was here, we had very little or no interest in her financial affairs

so we wouldn't be sure what estate Pearl would have had.

Lianne didn't know of a maiden name and couldn't value the estate.

It's not the news they hoped for.

The problem with my case of Pearl Knight

is that we can't identify her natural name.

She never married the guy she lived with. Just took his name.

So we've come up against a complete and utter brick wall.

Her birth name is the link to finding blood relatives and entitled heirs,

but it seems who Pearl was before she assumed the name Knight may never be uncovered.

Until we can find out her real maiden name, we're stuck.

I don't think we can get on to it.

I'm not sure where we can go now. This may be one mystery that gets away.

The case of Pearl Knight has stumped the Fraser's team.

Whilst they won't close the case, they're unlikely to get anywhere.

Pearl's estate could be worth £5,000 or considerably more,

but whatever the value its fate is unknown. If a breakthrough doesn't come,

all Pearl's money is destined to end up in the Treasury's coffers.

In some cases, where heirs are successfully tracked down,

it's not the financial inheritance that ends up being most important.

Finding out about family they never knew existed is often the most welcome news, but also emotional.

We always have to be very careful when we approach heirs

because we never know what we will open up or uncover.

Cyril Curtis died on February 9th, 2008, in Great Yarmouth,

leaving an estate of £23,000.

He had no family around him and neighbours like Barbara Yerrell were his only visitors.

There's no disputing it. He was an extremely lonely man.

Very lonely man.

Cyril had never been in contact with his family, so when Jeremy Ford of Hooper's tracked down

four entitled heirs to his estate, they were surprised to hear of him.

But that wasn't the only shock.

My beauty.

Two of those heirs were nieces Joyce Coley and Shirley Hughes.

Are we crossing here?

They were both daughters of Cyril's brother Leonard by two different mothers

and therefore half-sisters, but they'd never known of the other.

I was silent, with shock. And excitement, really.

The thought that I had family out there.

It's strange. I've never met any of the family at all.

Never knew who there was.

Didn't know they existed.

Leonard Curtis had left his wife Hilda and daughter Shirley when Shirley was three years old.

He went on to meet Emily Shepherd and whilst they never married, they did have a daughter, Joyce,

who Leonard was a father to until his death.

Without Cyril dying intestate, none of this would have come out.

Keen to find out more about her half-sister, Shirley has made initial contact with Jeremy Ford,

-the heir hunter who tracked them down.

-It all depends on her.

-She might not want to. I've made contact with her.

-And she's not got in touch?

-No.

Perhaps she wants to let sleeping dogs lie.

Family is central to Shirley's life.

He has his own name badge. Don't you?

She gave up work a few years ago to help son Tony and granddaughter Jennifer.

I never had a large family when I was little. There was just me on my own.

I always said I'd like a big family.

See you later. Bye.

See you later. Rob's at the bus stop for you.

It's been five months since Shirley wrote to her half-sister Joyce and so far she's had no response.

I get a bit deflated. I had a call and thought it was her. It wasn't.

I just felt deflated. Does she really want to know me?

I've just left it up to her, but it would be nice to hear from her,

even if it was just to say that I received your letter, but don't think we should go further.

I phoned Shirley. She hadn't heard anything.

I've phoned Joyce.

She'd got the letter, but couldn't bring herself to do anything with it.

She said it was too big an issue.

For Joyce, finding out that her father had a previous family has been a huge shock.

I will contact her, but it's getting straight in my mind what's gone on in my life.

I want to get that straight first and then I can move on.

You know...

It's a big step. It's a real big step.

You know, I...

I will do it.

Since Hooper's told Joyce about her half-sister, she's discovered her family knew but never told her.

This has been very difficult for Joyce to come to terms with,

-but she IS curious about her half-sister.

-I've often wondered if she works or...

if she's at home, what does she do, does she look after her grandchildren, you know?

Or is she working? I've very often wondered that.

I've worked all my life. So, you know, you do get to wonder what's she doing.

It's been six months since Shirley wrote the letter to Joyce and the shock has subsided.

-The half-sisters are now ready to meet each other.

-I received a note from Shirley.

And today I'm going to see her for the very first time.

Within an hour.

So it's all excitement now. I think it will be nice.

It's not going to be long. Be a good boy. Not be long now.

Stay there. Stay.

They've arranged to meet at a hotel near Joyce's home in Birmingham.

There's all sorts running through my head.

I'm nervous, I'm... My stomach is upset! All knotted.

But I'm excited as well. It's an excitement nervousness, if that sounds right.

And everyone, family, are all excited.

I think if they could have come, they would have. That would have frightened her off!

It still might yet. We just have to take it as it comes

and just hope that we hit it off and she would like to continue

and meet up occasionally perhaps or...

We'll just take it as it comes. For now.

Neither Shirley nor Joyce has even seen a photo of the other.

I'm looking at people coming through the door and thinking, "Is this her?

"Could it be?" I'm really anxious.

Very excited, but more anxious.

Is this gentleman with you?

Oh, wow! Oh, it's lovely to meet you!

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

-Oh, you're all steamed up.

-Just take these.

-Thank you.

-I've bought you one as well.

-Thank you.

-Something to remind you, to be reminded by.

-Oh, dear.

-I know! Do you want to sit down?

Honestly, I'm so grateful for this. I'm...

You know, em...

It's just... I just wish we'd met sooner.

-Looking at you, we're so alike.

-We are in some ways.

We're so alike.

You've got less colour in than mine.

Yes, yes, I need mine doing now... That's Dad.

-Oh, is that Dad?

-Our dad.

-Gosh!

-Was that him in Llandudno or somewhere?

-Wales.

-Gosh, I can't believe that. It's lovely.

-That's how I was dressed.

Constantly.

It's all thanks to Cyril Curtis not making a will that heir hunters carried out an investigation

uncovering Joyce and Shirley. More important than the financial inheritance

-has been finding each other.

-Half-sisters. We are.

-We're not half-sisters.

-We're full sisters. And always will be.

-That's nice. Thank you.

-That's lovely.

-We'll always be together.

-Hopefully we'll be together, yeah.

And, um, keep in touch and spend time together, perhaps?

-We could go out for the day.

-Yes, now we've found one another.

-We'll be inseparable now.

-Oh, that's lovely. Thank you.

If you would like advice about building a family tree or making a will, go to bbc.co.uk

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2009

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