0:00:03 > 0:00:08Every year thousands of people die with no will and with no apparent relatives.
0:00:08 > 0:00:13Tracking down their long-lost families is a job for the heir hunters.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36On today's programme, the heir hunters come up against a mystery they can't seem to solve.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40We've got a sister, Doreen, we cannot kill off.
0:00:40 > 0:00:46And an heir unearths a family secret that has been kept hidden for a generation.
0:00:46 > 0:00:52I think I can 100% say that my father didn't know he had a half-brother.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56And we'll have details of some of the hundreds of unclaimed estates.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Could you be in line for a windfall?
0:01:01 > 0:01:04More than two-thirds of people die without leaving a will.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08If they have no obvious relatives, their money goes to the Government.
0:01:08 > 0:01:13Last year, they made a staggering £18 million from unclaimed estates.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15That's where the heir hunters step in.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19- Mr Galloway?- Yes. David Hadley. Hello.
0:01:19 > 0:01:25There are more than 30 heir hunting companies who make it their business to track down the rightful kin.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29Last year alone they claimed back £6.5 million
0:01:29 > 0:01:34for unsuspecting heirs who would have otherwise gone empty-handed.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36Our job is incredibly exciting.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39We're tracing family trees, delving back into people's history
0:01:39 > 0:01:43and looking at the hidden mysteries around people's families.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55It's 7am at Fraser & Fraser, one of the oldest heir hunting companies in London.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59The Government list of people who have died without a will has been announced.
0:01:59 > 0:02:05Heir hunters work on commission, so the first priority is to quickly work out which cases are of value.
0:02:05 > 0:02:11We can't find an address for this in Worthing, West Sussex, so get Bob Smith to get that one.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14One of the cases had caught their attention,
0:02:14 > 0:02:19that of Roy Read, whose estate is worth an estimated £200,000.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24We started this morning looking at eight cases. The main case we're concentrating on is Read.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28We're making sure we've got the majority of our staff on him now.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32The hard bit's to make sure we don't spread our resources too thin,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35so we'll see where it goes in an hour or two.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42Roy Read spent his semi-retirement working as a driver for Age Concern.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Despite the years spent giving his time to others,
0:02:44 > 0:02:51he died alone in his home aged 76, apparently without any family.
0:02:51 > 0:02:57Two of the last people to see him on a regular basis were fellow charity workers Janice and Louise.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00He was very young at heart and he was quite an active man.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05He also had quite an interest around gardening.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09Whenever we took the groups out to the garden centres,
0:03:09 > 0:03:14he'd often be involved with them, helping them to choose their plants.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19Everybody adores Roy. He was such a nice person, really nice.
0:03:23 > 0:03:29Roy worked at the charity for 11 years, but he didn't give much away about his home life.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32He had a very good rapport with old people,
0:03:32 > 0:03:39but he was also a very private man and that's how he chose to live.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43We never heard him talk very much about family.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Roy died without leaving a will.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Because he owned his house, Roy's estate could be as valuable
0:03:49 > 0:03:55as £200,000, so definitely a case worth investigating.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59The first stage in tracing his family is for the researchers
0:03:59 > 0:04:02to check for his birth details and then look for parents and siblings.
0:04:02 > 0:04:08They have already reported to case manager David Pacifico some early news.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13He had a sister, Doreen, who we're trying to track down. She's probably deceased.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Who knows? We're trying to find what happened to her.
0:04:17 > 0:04:25As Roy's closest kin, Doreen would be entitled to his £200,000 estate, if they can find her.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29We're doing a marriage search for Doreen and Roy.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33But she may have died young.
0:04:33 > 0:04:38While the search goes on in the office, David Pacifico knows a face-to-face conversation with
0:04:38 > 0:04:42any of Roy's neighbours might provide information about him.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46That could save hours of scrolling through records.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50He has people on the road he can call on for just this purpose.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55The office employ a squadron of travelling heir hunters
0:04:55 > 0:05:00who are ready to go wherever the hunt takes them.
0:05:00 > 0:05:07Based up and down the country, their job is to sniff out clues to identify potential heirs.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09Once heirs are found, these senior researchers
0:05:09 > 0:05:13hotfoot it to meet them before the other companies.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20The first senior researcher to get a call is Watford-based Ewart Lindsay.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24I've just been rung up by the office and I've got a new case out this morning.
0:05:24 > 0:05:30The deceased used to live at 199 Hewitt Avenue, so I'm going to head over to that address now.
0:05:30 > 0:05:36Just do a brief inquiry, speaking to neighbours and try and find out a bit more about the deceased.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39It's crunch time on the case.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43Will Ewart's enquiries help to leapfrog the team's research forward?
0:05:45 > 0:05:48With Roy Read's £200,000 property at stake,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52the office aren't wasting any time while they wait for Ewart's news.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56They've now got more information on Roy's family.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00The parents are William J Read and Violet Rosie Maylin.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06This finding has allowed them to add another layer to the family tree.
0:06:06 > 0:06:12As well as Roy's Sister Doreen, they now know he was the son of Violet and William Read.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15They still think Doreen might be the sole heir, but they'll need
0:06:15 > 0:06:19to verify this information by getting relevant certificates.
0:06:20 > 0:06:27What we need to get is the birth of the sister, the parents' marriage and the birth of Mum.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30We won't know much else until the information comes back.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35Birth, death and marriage certificates are the tools of the heir hunters' trade.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39They verify details needed to build up a family tree
0:06:39 > 0:06:42and to make a case to the Government on an heir's behalf.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45The quickest way to get the information is to send someone
0:06:45 > 0:06:50to collect it from the register office but even this takes time.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54Roy's mother's death certificate is at the top of the list.
0:06:54 > 0:07:00The mother's death certificate may give us who knows? The sister might be the informant on it.
0:07:00 > 0:07:06I'm hoping she will be because at least we'll have a name, and address, albeit in 1982.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09It's a job for another of the travelling heir hunters.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14Will they be able to track down a clue to solve the case?
0:07:14 > 0:07:16- Morning, Dave it's David here. - Hello, David.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21- Can you go into Enfield and pick up a death for me, please?- Yes.
0:07:21 > 0:07:27And it's the death of the deceased mother, Violet Rosie Read. I've got two people on the road.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30I've got Ewart Lindsay and I've got Dave Hadley.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33The mother died in Enfield, so I'm sending Dave Hadley.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38Ewart is going to do an inquiry and then go to Westminster where the parents were married.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43Because everything is coming out of different registry offices, we're using somebody
0:07:43 > 0:07:48from here to go to Islington to pick up the deceased's birth and hopefully the sister's birth,
0:07:48 > 0:07:52which would give her full name and date of birth, which is what we want.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57It's now 9am and researcher Debbie is making
0:07:57 > 0:08:02her way to Islington Town Hall for Roy and Doreen's birth certificates.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05Even the most experienced heir hunters are struggling.
0:08:08 > 0:08:09There you go.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Debbie should be phoning through shortly. All right?
0:08:18 > 0:08:20We're a bit up in the air on this one.
0:08:20 > 0:08:26If it's not easy for us, hopefully, it's not easy for other companies.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31At Roy's house in north London, Ewart is hoping to move the case on
0:08:31 > 0:08:34by obtaining information from the neighbours.
0:08:34 > 0:08:40A neighbour of yours a few doors down at 199, Mr Read, I don't know if you knew him.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44I've spoken to him, but I didn't know his name.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47He's died without leaving a will.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49And you've got nobody at all?
0:08:49 > 0:08:54I have to trace his family and I'm trying to speak to neighbours to see if anyone knows more.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58- Was he ever married at all? - No, he was on his own.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01I don't think he had any family.
0:09:01 > 0:09:07- Do you know how long he's been living there?- He was living here for years, like a recluse.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10An elderly man, yes.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13While they wait for news that can push the case forward,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17Gareth is still trying to get ahead with Roy's sister, Doreen.
0:09:17 > 0:09:22He hasn't discovered the record for her death and now he's struggling to find her marriage record.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24At the moment we're completely stuck.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27I've got one marriage for Doreen C Read.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29I don't think it's going to be right, though.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33That leaves me wondering what has happened to her.
0:09:33 > 0:09:39She hasn't died, we can't find her death file as Read and I don't think she's married,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42so where has she gone? I'm not sure.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47With the researchers struggling, will Ewart's report back from the neighbours help?
0:09:50 > 0:09:53I've managed to speak to a lady a few doors down.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58She just mentioned that the deceased was a recluse.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00No mention about her sister?
0:10:00 > 0:10:04No mention about her sister at all, no.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08We've got a sister, Doreen, we can't kill off.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12It's now 10.00am and the case is still deadlocked.
0:10:12 > 0:10:18Worried they might be falling behind the other heir hunting companies, David's patience is wearing thin.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23I'm going to phone Dave Hadley again. This is driving me mad.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30It's good timing for David's call because Dave Hadley has just arrived at the register office.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Dave, David here. You've got it.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Cheers.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42Dave has got the mother's death certificate, but what will it reveal?
0:10:45 > 0:10:47The informant is the son,
0:10:47 > 0:10:53Roy Charles Walter Read.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58The certificate doesn't solve the mystery of Roy's sister. In fact, it throws up a new one.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03I don't think they actually know the full name of the husband.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08- It looks like, "Widow of - Read." - So he doesn't know the name of his father?
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Well, yeah. Strange.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13It doesn't make sense.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18Dave Hadley's information isn't what David was looking for.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23The informant is the son, the deceased, but the son doesn't even know who his father's name was.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26The news hasn't helped the case move forward.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30The informant is the son, so the son doesn't even know the name of his father.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33That's a good start.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36With this question mark over Roy's father, and still no news on
0:11:36 > 0:11:41Roy's sister, will the team be able to find their way out of this dead end?
0:11:41 > 0:11:45The annoying thing is that we know the deceased had a sister
0:11:45 > 0:11:48and not knowing what happened to her is very frustrating.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52She could be floating around somewhere, she could be
0:11:52 > 0:11:56within a whisker of finding her, but we don't know what has happened to her.
0:11:58 > 0:12:05From that point of view, it's very frustrating. But we will get her eventually.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11They may find her sooner than they think with one crucial phone call from researcher Debbie.
0:12:11 > 0:12:18She's at Islington Town Hall where she's been looking up Roy and his sister's birth certificates.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Birth of Doreen Cambridge Read.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25Read. Yes, no father.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Roy's sister's birth certificate provides two key pieces of information.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36Firstly, there's no named father, so Doreen's father was not Mr Read.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40Secondly, she was given up for adoption at birth.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Doreen is adopted out. Yes.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50Anyone who's working with Doreen, drop it.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54She's adopted out.
0:12:55 > 0:13:02This is a turning point because Doreen isn't entitled to any of Roy's £200,000 estate.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06The team will have to change the way they look at the case.
0:13:06 > 0:13:12Now we've picked up Doreen's birth certificate, it says across that that she's been adopted out of the family.
0:13:12 > 0:13:18That takes away all of the legal ties back into the estate, so we don't need to worry about her at all.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23We've now got to go on to the parents and the cousins and see where we go from there.
0:13:23 > 0:13:29With Doreen out of the picture, the heir hunters now need to find the next nearest kin.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32This could send them into more distant relatives.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35But Debbie has another bombshell to drop.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39This time about Roy's birth.
0:13:39 > 0:13:45"Birth of Roy Charles Walter, his father is Charles William Larter."
0:13:45 > 0:13:50The father is a milk roundsman.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53The father is Charles William Larter, milk roundsman.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55We have to find Charles William Larter.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01The case has been turned upside down.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05Now the team have found out that Roy was an illegitimate son of a milkman.
0:14:05 > 0:14:12If his real father, Charles Larter, had other children, there could be any number of half blood heirs.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16This is really how much we can change in five minutes.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20We've picked up the births of the sister of the deceased and of the deceased.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24The main thing is that the sister is adopted out and the deceased,
0:14:24 > 0:14:31although the mother is married, the father of the deceased isn't who she's married to.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35The father's name has totally changed, it's now a Mr Larter.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39We need to start working on him and we're still working on the mother.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43It's complicated to say at least at this time.
0:14:44 > 0:14:50The case has had a breakthrough but having lost nearly a whole morning to get to this stage,
0:14:50 > 0:14:55it's all hands to the pump to track down the newly-discovered side of Roy Read's family.
0:14:57 > 0:15:03Coming up later - the team are on to a family but is it the right one?
0:15:03 > 0:15:06I want to know from him if he knows the occupation of his grandfather.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10If he can say his grandfather was a milkman, then we're spot-on.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22For every case that is solved, there are still those that remain a mystery.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29Currently, over 3,000 names drawn from across the country are on the Treasury's unsolved case list.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36Their assets will be kept for up to 30 years in the hope that
0:15:36 > 0:15:41someone will remember and come forward to claim their inheritance.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49With estates valued at anything from £5,000 to millions of pounds,
0:15:49 > 0:15:53the rightful heirs are out there somewhere.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56John Adler died in London in March 2008.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01So far, all efforts to trace his next of kin have drawn a blank.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05Maybe you hold the key to who should inherit his estate.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10Lucy Stepanski died in Holloway in London in November 2002.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14Her unusual surname should make her heirs easier to find.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Could you be related to her?
0:16:22 > 0:16:30Sometimes a single clue can unlock a family secret. But some cases can prove incredibly complex.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35While bigger heir hunting companies have the resources to cope, also working the Government's list
0:16:35 > 0:16:37are many smaller firms.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41Hector Birchwood of Celtic Research specialises in trying to
0:16:41 > 0:16:45solve difficult cases that other are companies won't necessarily tackle.
0:16:45 > 0:16:52Hector also relies on certificates to move his research on, as happened with the case of Kenneth Yale.
0:16:54 > 0:17:01Kenneth Yale died in a Glasgow hospital aged 79 leaving no will and an estate of £12,000.
0:17:04 > 0:17:09The search to try and find his heirs led to the discovery of a skeleton in the Yale family closet.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15Patricia Fleming is a staff nurse at the Orchards Hospital in Glasgow where Kenneth Yale spent
0:17:15 > 0:17:18the last five years of his life.
0:17:18 > 0:17:23Kenny was very much an old school gent, would speak quite fondly of his time in the services.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27He came from a family of servicemen.
0:17:27 > 0:17:33I believe his father and his grandfather also. Quite a few close relationships with patients that
0:17:33 > 0:17:39have already been in the services, equally for long periods of time.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41Liked the old familiar.
0:17:43 > 0:17:49- Kenneth never married and had no apparent family.- Kenny never had any visitors as such.
0:17:49 > 0:17:54There's a befriending service and also the chaplain, the hospital chaplain.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58Those were the only people other than ward staff that Kenny had contact with.
0:18:00 > 0:18:06Hector took up Kenneth's case. With only a name and a hospital address to go on,
0:18:06 > 0:18:11Hector's starting point was to find Kenneth's birth certificate to get his parents' details.
0:18:11 > 0:18:17The first hurdle we had was not being able to find a birth certificate for the deceased in Scotland.
0:18:17 > 0:18:23Yale isn't really a particularly Scottish name. There are people with the name Yale in Scotland,
0:18:23 > 0:18:27but it's not something that I would think is necessarily a Scottish name.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32And that's one of the reasons why I thought that the research should continue in England.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35Hector traced Kenneth's birth certificate to London.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39The certificate showed that Kenneth's father, James St Clair Madryn Yale,
0:18:39 > 0:18:46was a solicitor and had married a Grace Turbutt. But this wasn't his first marriage.
0:18:46 > 0:18:52When we discovered that James St Clair Yale had been previously married,
0:18:52 > 0:18:58we then went through the next stage, which is trying to see if he had any children from that marriage.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02He had one son, also called James.
0:19:02 > 0:19:08He died very young but we did find that he had children and that developed into us finding an heir.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Kenneth's father, James, had a son from a previous marriage, Kenneth's half-brother.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20Hector's research showed that Kenneth's half-brother had a daughter.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25As his the only living heir, she was entitled to his £12,000 estate.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29It was quite a surprise.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Disbelief, really.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35And it was very, very strange to know there was
0:19:35 > 0:19:42somebody that had obviously been relatively close, genetically, to me that I'd never known existed.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45So it was a very strange feeling.
0:19:45 > 0:19:53Nice to be inheriting something, but very sad to have not ever known the person that had left it for me.
0:19:54 > 0:20:01I think I can 100% say that my father did not know he had a half-brother.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06He'd known that his father was a solicitor or a barrister in London,
0:20:06 > 0:20:11And obviously that they had divorced when my father was very, very young.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15There was no contact between my father and his father following that.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23Hector is on his way over to Sonia's with the results of his latest research.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28I managed to get the divorce papers
0:20:28 > 0:20:31relating to the grandparents of our heir.
0:20:33 > 0:20:39I think she will probably find some of the information that we've uncovered rather surprising.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51HE KNOCKS ON DOOR
0:20:51 > 0:20:56As well as her grandparents' divorce papers, Hector has brought all the birth,
0:20:56 > 0:21:01marriage and death certificates used to connect Sonia to her half uncle, Kenneth.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07- That's the marriage of your grandparents.- Ah, right.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11So here we have James St Clair with Louise Parsons, only a year apart.
0:21:11 > 0:21:17- They were quite young, weren't they? - They were quite young, 22 and 21 years old.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23This is relating to the divorce papers for your grandparents.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27There are a few surprising facts here, from what you already know.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32The petition was filed on 14th May 1926.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36Six months later, the decree nisi was awarded.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39The second marriage of James St Clair indicates that
0:21:39 > 0:21:45maybe he was the party who divorced your grandmother.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50But if you look at the divorce proceedings and who is actually
0:21:50 > 0:21:53putting together the petition,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57the petitioner
0:21:57 > 0:21:59is Louise Yale.
0:21:59 > 0:22:06Before the 1920s, it was uncommon for wives to petition for divorce
0:22:06 > 0:22:10because women had to prove more grounds than men.
0:22:10 > 0:22:16However, after a change in law in 1923, divorce for women was more accessible.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20There was an important change in the law in 1923.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Prior to that, a wife couldn't divorce her husband
0:22:24 > 0:22:27on the basis of his adultery alone.
0:22:27 > 0:22:34She had to also prove cruelty, desertion for two years or incest, bigamy, sodomy, bestiality or rape.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38After 1923, she could petition on the basis of adultery alone.
0:22:39 > 0:22:45At this time, you had to find a fault, a reason to divorce somebody.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49There was no such thing as a no-fault divorce. And normally adultery was the reason.
0:22:49 > 0:22:55The impression I got was that perhaps my grandfather wasn't the best husband in the world.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59And I think possibly adultery might have been in there,
0:22:59 > 0:23:03just from recollection of conversations I overheard.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10Well, you are right. Adultery does play a part in this.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15- Maybe not just adultery with one person.- Oh dear!
0:23:15 > 0:23:18- Possibly with many.- Oh.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21I'll just turn your attention quite quickly to
0:23:21 > 0:23:27paragraph five of the affidavit, where,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31"the respondent has frequently committed adultery with women
0:23:31 > 0:23:35- "whose names are unknown to your petitioner."- Right.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39While Sonia's grandparents were waiting for the divorce to come through,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43her grandfather quickly moved on to a new relationship.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46He did marry again quite quickly, then, didn't he?
0:23:46 > 0:23:48Yeah, he didn't waste time.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52Very quickly, because Kenneth was born in '27.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56He didn't hang about.
0:23:56 > 0:24:031927, so that's June 1927, less than a year after the divorce was granted.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08Kenneth's mother was not married to Sonia's grandfather when she conceived
0:24:08 > 0:24:13and there was still considerable social stigma attached to being an illegitimate child.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Well, the timing of the divorce would have been quite crucial.
0:24:17 > 0:24:23The law had changed in 1927 to allow a child to be legitimated by a subsequent marriage.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26However, that only applied
0:24:26 > 0:24:31if neither of the parents was married to a third party at the time of the child's birth.
0:24:33 > 0:24:39The divorce timing worked out for Kenneth and his parents were married just 16 days before he was born.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Because Sonia's grandfather successfully managed to keep
0:24:44 > 0:24:47his two children apart for their entire lives,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51Sonia knows very few details about her half uncle, Kenneth.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56There are no surviving photos of him so she doesn't even know what he looks like.
0:25:00 > 0:25:06- Today, she's travelling to the hospital where he died.- I'd love to find out more about Kenneth.
0:25:06 > 0:25:13It's quite sad that, obviously, it would appear as though he had
0:25:13 > 0:25:16no other family other than myself and he didn't know of my existence.
0:25:16 > 0:25:24I do find that very sad that somebody has gone through life without anybody close,
0:25:24 > 0:25:29without any family, and has died without having access to any family.
0:25:35 > 0:25:40Yeah, I feel a bit sad, really, that
0:25:40 > 0:25:42he ended his life here.
0:25:42 > 0:25:49I'm sure it's a very nice place, but I don't think any of us particularly want to end our lives in
0:25:49 > 0:25:51a place like this.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53Sonia speaks to staff nurse Patricia Fleming,
0:25:53 > 0:25:58who is the only link she has to the half-uncle she never knew.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01That was my father in his army days.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04- He has the same jaw.- Has he? Right.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06They have the same jaw.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10I don't know how old he would be, but I reckon he would be probably late teens.
0:26:10 > 0:26:17And that was him when he was older, he would be in his 40s there.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21The exact same jaw but kind of much thinner up here.
0:26:22 > 0:26:28Her last stop is at Glasgow Crematorium, to pay her respects to her uncle.
0:26:32 > 0:26:38I wanted to come see where Uncle Kenny was cremated
0:26:38 > 0:26:44just for somebody to have acknowledged, really,
0:26:44 > 0:26:49that he was a relative of mine, even though we didn't know each other.
0:26:49 > 0:26:55I've been trying to find out a little bit about him and have found out a little bit.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Hopefully, I'll continue over time to find out more.
0:26:59 > 0:27:05But it's nice to say farewell and I'm sorry I never knew you when you were here, Kenny.
0:27:13 > 0:27:19Every year, thousands of people live their lives totally unaware that a long-forgotten relative
0:27:19 > 0:27:21has died without leaving a will.
0:27:21 > 0:27:27Most unclaimed estates are valued at a few thousand pounds but some are worth millions.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30Maybe you hold the key to a mystery case?
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Could your memories shed light on who should lay claim to an estate?
0:27:36 > 0:27:40Stanislaus Ammer of Hereford passed away in September 2007.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44A distinctive name like that could revive long-forgotten memories.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49Can you recall anything about him? Do you know how to find his heirs?
0:27:53 > 0:27:58Martha Corner died in Palmers Green, London, in 2008. Her maiden name was Martha du Bois.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02Tracing relatives of this widow has so far proved impossible.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Perhaps you can help find the heirs to her estate?
0:28:12 > 0:28:16Back in London, Fraser & Fraser are trying to track down the family
0:28:16 > 0:28:21of Roy Read, who died with a £200,000 estate and no will.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24They've been working on the case for five hours and have discovered
0:28:24 > 0:28:28Roy was the illegitimate son of a Charles Larter.
0:28:29 > 0:28:36We now have to find out something about Mr Larter, who is shown as a milkman on the birth certificate.
0:28:36 > 0:28:43If he's married, if he had other children, they would be half-brothers and sisters.
0:28:43 > 0:28:50Now the team are going into overdrive, trying to find out about Charles Larter, Roy's real father.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55I have got a marriage for him in Paddington.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57He's alive in 1931, isn't he?
0:29:00 > 0:29:03What they already know is that Charles Larter owned
0:29:03 > 0:29:09the milk rounds in Shepherd's Bush, west London, from the 1920s.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13He worked for the Davies Bros Dairy in the days before electric milk floats and milk
0:29:13 > 0:29:14was delivered by hand.
0:29:14 > 0:29:21Could he have met Roy's mother on his rounds? Now the team know Charles Larter's name,
0:29:21 > 0:29:25they need to find out if he had any other children.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29They're under pressure to make up time after the slow start.
0:29:29 > 0:29:34We're searching for a will on the basis that we know very little about Charles Larter.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40If we can find a will, it will hopefully connect him in with our family.
0:29:40 > 0:29:46There's also an address and things are indexed with addresses at probate so that might help.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49So Neil's on his way, hopefully.
0:29:49 > 0:29:55The confirmation of the name Larter means that there is a flood of new information to process.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57And he's otherwise Larter?
0:29:57 > 0:29:59No, No. He was born as...
0:29:59 > 0:30:02- Well, I haven't...- Both parents signed the register, right?
0:30:02 > 0:30:07- Yes.- Fine, so his surname's Larter. - We can check it on the machine and see if it's comes up under Larter.
0:30:07 > 0:30:13It will be registered under Larter where does it say what the surname of the child is?
0:30:13 > 0:30:18Case manager David Pacifico has been given details of a Charles Larter in London.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Could this be Roy's father?
0:30:21 > 0:30:27There is a marriage of a Charles W Larter in Paddington in 1912, which could be the father.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29And he's got six children, I think.
0:30:29 > 0:30:35What we need to do is to find out on his marriage what his occupation is.
0:30:35 > 0:30:36If it's a milkman, that's it.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41It looks like there could well be half-brothers and sisters. They probably haven't got a clue.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47The Charles Larter the team have found in Paddington married an Elizabeth Small
0:30:47 > 0:30:53and together they had seven children but one, Peter, died in infancy.
0:30:53 > 0:30:58If any of the others are alive, they could be Roy's half brothers or sisters, but first they
0:30:58 > 0:31:03need to confirm if this Charles William Larter is Roy's father.
0:31:03 > 0:31:10So it looks like he may have fathered five or six children from a marriage and on his rounds met this woman.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14I forgot that, yes, he's a milkman, isn't he? He is the milkman. Yeah.
0:31:14 > 0:31:20- "Your father was a milkman." - He got friendly with one of his...customers.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27It really is, sometimes it can be rather funny, this job.
0:31:29 > 0:31:34It's a race for the researchers to get as much information on the six Larter children as possible.
0:31:35 > 0:31:43- There are five or six births including a Ronald C who dies in 2005 in the Isle of Wight.
0:31:43 > 0:31:48Charles Larter had a son, Ronald, who also had a son.
0:31:48 > 0:31:52One phone call to him will confirm whether they're following up the right family.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55It's the most important moment of the day so far because
0:31:55 > 0:31:58it could be the breakthrough they've all been hoping for.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01We are possibly about to make a phone call to
0:32:01 > 0:32:04a half nephew of the deceased, potentially it's a half nephew.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10I want to know if he knows the occupation of his grandfather.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14If he can say his grandfather was a milkman, then we're spot on.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22Hello, is that a Mr Larter? We're trying to trace a family
0:32:22 > 0:32:25by the name of Larter originally from the London area.
0:32:25 > 0:32:31Would I be right in saying that your father might have been a Ronald C Larter?
0:32:31 > 0:32:36Now, your grandfather, do you remember his occupation at all?
0:32:36 > 0:32:41It's the right family and David loses no time in establishing the whereabouts of the other relatives.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48I know there was a Peter, Elizabeth, Muriel, Muriel's still alive, yeah?
0:32:50 > 0:32:54This is exactly the call David was hoping for.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57Thank you very much indeed for your help. Thank you. Bye-bye.
0:32:59 > 0:33:04He actually confirmed that his grandfather worked for a dairy
0:33:04 > 0:33:08and one time left his wife and went off with another woman.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11The team are certain they've contacted the right family.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14For Gareth, this means scores of names to track down
0:33:14 > 0:33:19and the company believe other heir hunters are working on the case.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23Whoever gets to the heirs first stands more of a chance of gaining a commission.
0:33:23 > 0:33:28I think they're probably neck and neck with us, because it's quite easy to do, this case, really.
0:33:28 > 0:33:35Once you've got the key ingredient for it, which was the birth of the deceased,
0:33:35 > 0:33:41it's relatively easy to get on to. So that means it's easy for the competition to get on to as well.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45Everyone pitches in with the research to ensure that
0:33:45 > 0:33:49they find all the heirs as quickly as possible.
0:33:50 > 0:33:57Charles Larter had five other children, Olive, Joan, Elizabeth, Dennis and Muriel.
0:33:57 > 0:34:02They would all be in their 80s so the team are also looking for grandchildren.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05Could Roy Read have known who his real father was?
0:34:05 > 0:34:09And did he have any inkling that he had so many brothers and sisters?
0:34:09 > 0:34:12Everybody's getting married so everybody
0:34:12 > 0:34:16has to have an issue search done after them and all be found alive, so...
0:34:17 > 0:34:19It's just a drag race.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25There's no break for David, either.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30I'm trying to trace an Elizabeth Sammels, formally Larter. Hello, Mrs Andrews?
0:34:30 > 0:34:35- He's busy calling possible heirs. - Dennis was another brother of yours.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37Do you remember the name at all of his son?
0:34:37 > 0:34:39Paul, was it?
0:34:39 > 0:34:45- You had a sister Joan, I think. - With every new phone call, he gets more information.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47Did you have a sister, Olive?
0:34:47 > 0:34:52Was she married? Any idea where Sylvia lives at all?
0:34:52 > 0:34:55What's Muriel's married name, if I may?
0:34:55 > 0:34:58But he's thriving under the pressure.
0:34:58 > 0:35:05It's good fun, this is, and what it was looking like this morning, it looked absolutely frustrating,
0:35:05 > 0:35:08frustration, but it shows you what a couple of civics can do.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12The family tree is now taking shape.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16The team have identified seven grandchildren of Charles Larter.
0:35:16 > 0:35:22Sylvia, Christine, Terence, Christopher, Raymond, Jennifer and Paul.
0:35:22 > 0:35:27These would all be Roy's half nephews and nieces.
0:35:27 > 0:35:32And downstairs the researchers are finally able to fill in the blanks.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34Trying to get the tree up to date at the moment.
0:35:34 > 0:35:40Everybody is rushing so things get missed or put in the wrong place, so I'm making sure everything
0:35:40 > 0:35:46that should be on it is on it and then I'll probably rewrite it so people can actually read it.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49Now that they know there are living heirs, the teams send
0:35:49 > 0:35:53their senior researchers out to meet them and fill them in on their lineage.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55This is the moment heir hunters work towards.
0:35:55 > 0:36:01Now they need to get there before the other companies, to sign them up and earn their commission.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03Ewart, hi. Listen, we're up to date and I've got
0:36:03 > 0:36:10- the first appointment for you, three o'clock or just before three o'clock at Hayes in Middlesex.- OK.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12'You're seeing Sylvia Andrews.'
0:36:12 > 0:36:15I've also got an address in St Albans.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18I'll try and phone that through and make that later on.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22- 'You've got some talking to do this afternoon anyway.'- Yeah, all right.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25That's where you'll be heading to, Hayes in Middlesex.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28- 'I'll leave that with you and good luck.'- OK, cheers.
0:36:28 > 0:36:34- You need to get someone down to Devon.- Can you see if there's any other children of that marriage.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38That's what we're doing. Hopefully we'll get something else.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41Then we'll get somebody down there.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45Bob Smith is the next traveller to be sent to meet an heir.
0:36:45 > 0:36:50He's going to Devon to meet Charles Larter's grandson and Roy Read's half nephew.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55It's been quite a swings and roundabouts day today.
0:36:55 > 0:37:00First contact with the office this morning they said they didn't have anything for me, just drive in.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04Half-an-hour later I'm told just come into the office.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07500 yards from the office, please go to Devon!
0:37:10 > 0:37:11That's life.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16Life of a traveller.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22In a final breakthrough the heir hunters have found
0:37:22 > 0:37:23Christopher and Kathleen,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27great-grandchildren of milkman Charles Larter
0:37:27 > 0:37:28and heirs to Roy's estate.
0:37:33 > 0:37:34We've just got a birth.
0:37:34 > 0:37:39She's born in 1959, so we need to marry her off and find her now.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42She'll be the most distant heir I think on this case.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45David Hadley is sent to go out and visit them.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48We're up to date with all the half blood.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50'The person you're seeing is a Kathleen.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54'She'd be the daughter of Christopher Larter
0:37:54 > 0:37:58'and her father died about 1972-3.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02'She's got a brother, Christopher, so she'll give you the information I hope.'
0:38:02 > 0:38:04- OK.- 'OK?'- All right then.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08- 'I'll catch up with you tomorrow then. Good luck.'- All right, David.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12We've got three travellers out, one's gone all the way down to Devon.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Another one's up in Suffolk.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17Another one's in Middlesex
0:38:17 > 0:38:20and then going on to hopefully St Albans later.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22We shall see.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25I think this has gone quite well. I'm quite pleased with it.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27Research-wise, it's gone very well.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31Unless we missed something, which is always a possibility.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35But hopefully David's charming everybody.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38It's 5pm and the office is wrapping up for the day.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42But there's still a long evening ahead for David Hadley.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46He's arrived at the house of Charles Larter's great-granddaughter Kathleen.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49She'd be Roy Reid's great half-niece.
0:38:49 > 0:38:54She's still taking in the news of her long-lost relative.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57I don't know whether he explained to you what this is all about,
0:38:57 > 0:39:01but basically Fraser & Fraser are a company of probate researchers.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05We're working on a case at the moment and we believe that you're related
0:39:05 > 0:39:09to the deceased and as such are entitled to a share of his estate.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12I don't know how much you know about your family.
0:39:12 > 0:39:17I actually lost touch with that side of the family
0:39:17 > 0:39:19from the age of about 10 or 11.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22Oh, right. Some questions about your father then.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26- Do you know what his surname was? - Larter.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30And how about your grandfather? What do you know about him?
0:39:30 > 0:39:34- Just that his name was Ron, Ronald. - Yeah.
0:39:34 > 0:39:39And I think he had a brother, Dennis.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43So far as we know at the moment there was Dennis,
0:39:43 > 0:39:46there was Joan, there was Olive,
0:39:46 > 0:39:50there was Ronald, which would be your grandfather,
0:39:50 > 0:39:52Muriel, Elizabeth and Peter.
0:39:52 > 0:39:53Oh.
0:39:55 > 0:40:01In fact, the deceased is half blood related to them.
0:40:01 > 0:40:06The news about Roy has come as a big surprise to Kathleen.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08It was quite a bombshell.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11Coming home from work today and receiving a phone call...
0:40:13 > 0:40:17..making me think about the past
0:40:17 > 0:40:23and my family and things that I had forgotten really.
0:40:23 > 0:40:29But, you know, if I stand to gain anything then that's great.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38With one successful visit over, David Hadley heads over
0:40:38 > 0:40:42to his second heir, Kathleen's brother, Christopher.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45Your father was Christopher Larter, which you've confirmed.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48- He had a brother, Terry. - Yeah.- And a sister, Christine.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51- They always called her Tina.- Yeah.
0:40:51 > 0:40:56Then we've got your father's father was Ronald, Ronald Larter.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59Yeah, Ron who died a couple of years ago.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03Yeah. Then this is to do with a half-brother that Ron had.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07Thank you very much, bye-bye.
0:41:07 > 0:41:08- Take care.- And you. Bye bye.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10Thank you.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13David is finally wrapping up after two good meetings.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16I'm feeling quite good now.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19It's been a long day but it's been worth it
0:41:19 > 0:41:21and I think it's a job well done,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24so I'm now going to make my way home again.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29Both the heirs David met signed up with him, which means the company
0:41:29 > 0:41:33will work on their behalf until they receive their inheritance money.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36However, Bob and Ewart weren't so lucky.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41In the end the heirs didn't give them their business, despite all of their hard work.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45All in all the researchers in less than 24 hours have found
0:41:45 > 0:41:49a remarkable eight heirs for Roy, a man thought to have no family.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53It's been a productive day even after a slow start.
0:41:53 > 0:41:58Changing from one tack to another is always a bit frustrating because you realise how much wasted work
0:41:58 > 0:42:02you've done and in this case we had three or four hours of wasted work
0:42:02 > 0:42:05with all of our researchers prior to switching to the right family,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08and then within 20 minutes, we had found the first address
0:42:08 > 0:42:13and we've got several children, all of which are now up-to-date, we found addresses for.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17Indeed he still had two half sisters still alive.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21I question whether they actually knew that their father
0:42:21 > 0:42:24had had another son from another relationship,
0:42:24 > 0:42:26but we'll find out in the long run, I suppose.
0:42:26 > 0:42:32And for Roy Reid, his £200,000 estate will be going to a family
0:42:32 > 0:42:37he probably never knew he had, and is his final act of generosity.
0:42:37 > 0:42:42He was a very private man but he was also a very caring man
0:42:42 > 0:42:45and he was a giver rather than a taker.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53If you'd like to find out more
0:42:53 > 0:42:58about how to build a family tree or write a will, go to...
0:43:09 > 0:43:12Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:43:12 > 0:43:15E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk