Mooney/Sonntag Heir Hunters

Every year, over 12,000 people die without leaving a will and seemingly with no next of kin.

But often, there is a relative who stands to inherit and that's where the Heir Hunters come in.

On today's programme, a woman who had dedicated her time to charity work passes away,

leaving a fortune to the family she hadn't seen since childhood.

She was very shy and I rather imagine this has contributed to losing touch over the years.

And Heir Hunters uncover one of the youngest heirs they've ever found.

I think, if anything, it's made me realise that money isn't everything.

It's family. That's the main thing.

Plus, we'll have details of some of the hundreds of unclaimed estates.

Could you be in line for a windfall?

In the UK, about two-thirds of people do not have a will

and therefore leave no record of their last wishes.

If they die and leave an estate and an obvious relative can not be found,

then the money defaults to the government

who last year made £18 million in unclaimed estates.

Heir Hunters must leave no stone unturned

and there are over 30 companies competing to find beneficiaries

and put them in touch with a fortune they never knew existed.

With so much money at stake, there's a lot of competition in heir hunting, so time is of the essence.

I have every confidence in the team and I'm sure that we'll triumph in the end.

Fraser & Fraser have been heir-hunting for 40 years

and have handled over £100 million-worth of inheritance in the last ten years alone.

The search for an heir can take them anywhere, so the team must exhaust every line of enquiry

in their hunt for beneficiaries.

It's 7am on Thursday morning

and at Fraser & Fraser's, work is in full flow.

The Treasury's weekly list of unclaimed estates has been released,

so case manager Tony Pledger and the team are assessing which deserve further investigation.

There's one case in particular Neil thinks the team should home in on.

What we're going to be looking at is Margaret Doreen Mooney. Dies in Chingford in 2009.

It's a valuable estate. The property is going to be worth certainly above £200,000.

So very valuable for us to work.

It's also here in the south-east, so it's going to be very competitive with a lot of other firms working it,

so we need to pull our finger out.

The company have little information to go on,

so they use census and birth, death and marriage certificates

to build a family tree for the deceased. Going back generations and generations,

the team hope to uncover potential heirs to an estate.

Margaret Mooney passed away in Chingford, East London, in July 2009, aged 88.

She left behind an estate worth in excess of £200,000, based on the value of her home.

Having lived in the area since the '60s, Margaret was a well-known, if quiet member of the community.

I live not quite opposite Margaret,

but we've lived here since 1967 when I first got married. Margaret was living with her sister Hilda then.

They were very different people, different as chalk and cheese.

Hilda was very extrovert and she, from what I can gather, did lots of travelling,

always had her nails manicured and everything like that.

Margaret was much quieter. They didn't do a lot of things together.

They did different things on their own, but they shared the house together.

Despite Margaret's sister Hilda passing away ten years ago,

Margaret remained independent and living in the house.

She was a well-composed lady. She went to the hairdresser's regularly.

She used to go out smartly dressed.

I don't know exactly, but I think she worked at the hospital at Hackney.

She wasn't happy to have to retire at 60. She hadn't been married or had a family and that was her life, really.

On retirement, Margaret was determined to continue leading a full life

and began working voluntarily in the tea bar at Whipps Cross Hospital,

a role she enjoyed for over 20 years.

The fact that she'd do that into her 80s shows that she liked to be with people and around people.

That probably for her was her social life.

The kindness Margaret had shown to others throughout her life was later repaid by the local community.

Towards the latter years, she became more frail, so we kept an eye on her

and we used to monitor the fact that she was OK by whether her TV went on of an evening.

-People care about each other round here.

-If we see something we don't think is right,

we'll be nosey, I suppose.

But on Margaret's death, it was these same neighbours who bid her a fond farewell

after no next of kin came forward.

We were concerned because she was an old lady on her own that there wouldn't be very much,

-but she had quite a nice send-off.

-Yes, she did.

The funeral fitted the type of person that she was.

It wasn't fussy, it wasn't over the top. It was just very simple.

I just remember her as a very independent old lady

who always was happy to give you a smile or have a little chat with you.

Back in the Heir Hunters' office, the research is under way.

With the case seeming to be based initially in Chingford, case manager Tony calls Ewart Lindsay.

-'Hello?'

-Hello, cheerful! I want you to slip over to Chingford.

Throughout the UK, Frasers have a team of researchers on standby

who are able to hit the road at a moment's notice.

Their job is to find vital clues and information on the case

and eventually sign up the rightful heirs.

They have to work fast as a rival company is never far behind,

so there's no room for error.

-Pleased to meet you.

-Ewart Lindsay is one of Frasers' travelling Heir Hunters and is based in Watford,

so Tony has sent him to Margaret's house in Chingford to see if he can gauge a value for the property

and to see if the neighbours might be able to offer any clues about her background.

In the office, Tony and Jo are working on the father's side of the tree

and seem to be making some headway.

The Mooney name is quite good and they're based in and around Hackney and that sort of area,

so it's been quite easy to identify at the moment.

Jo has got aunts on the father's side

and therefore the father of the deceased might have three sisters

who might go on to produce children, but we don't know yet.

On the other side of the tree, the mother's side,

the name the team are working on is frighteningly familiar.

The surname we're looking at is Fraser, so it's a nightmare! She's Edith Mary Fraser.

I believe this is an aunt of the deceased, but I don't know that.

All we know at the moment is she's born in 1876 in Mile End

and she's alive in 1891 as a spinster which, bearing in mind she'd be 15, is no surprise.

Other than that, I can't find a marriage for her and I can't find her on the census after '91.

So I've run around in circles, really.

Alongside case manager Simon Grosvenor is senior researcher Gareth.

He's finding his investigations no easier.

On the maternal side, we've got three aunts and uncles -

Alexander, Edith and Albert.

Alexander and Albert, reasonably good names, but as yet, I can't find them on the census.

I've got them all single, but I haven't got them later on with their partners.

It could be that they don't marry or don't do anything, but...

I'd like to say it was going brilliantly, but they all seem to disappear

and I'm not sure why yet.

So far, the office has discovered that John Fraser married Louisa Brown and they had four children.

They have found records showing that one of these children, Alice,

married James Mooney and had a daughter Margaret.

But what happened to the other Fraser children? Did they too have families of their own?

-Edith Mary Fraser...

-Meanwhile, Simon thinks he may have got a result on Edith, Margaret's aunt.

I couldn't find a marriage for her, then we got some info that a couple of them had died

and there's a death for an Edith Mary Fraser in Bethnal Green which is right on age, in 1900,

which is just before the '01 census which she is not on.

That looks as if she's her.

A few miles away in Chingford, Ewart has arrived at the deceased Margaret's house.

Let's see what the neighbours can actually tell me about the deceased.

-Good morning. I'm just making some enquiries into your neighbour who passed away.

-Yes.

-Did you know much about her?

-No.

I just said this morning that no-one came to visit her.

-She just used to go out to the hairdresser's and that's all we ever saw of her really.

-Right.

As far as we know, she didn't have any relations.

How much is this property worth, do you think?

That one is probably worth £250,000, something like that.

Thank you very much for your help. Take care. All the best. Take care. Bye-bye.

We never saw any family. The last one was her sister who died quite a few years ago.

Very sad.

Back in the office, on the father's side of the tree, Tony and Jo are racing ahead.

We found out from a neighbour of the deceased that she had a sister who died about ten years ago.

We researched into that and we found out her name was Hilda Edith Mooney.

She died ten years ago. We don't think there is any more near kin,

so that's why we're going back to cousins.

We've got an aunt of the deceased who might marry Ernest Benjamin Wyatt.

From that marriage, there are two children, potential cousins of the deceased -

Harold Ernest Wyatt and Daisy Elizabeth Wyatt.

We've got three potential marriages for Daisy Elizabeth Wyatt, all of which, either or none may be right.

Harold Ernest Wyatt, potential cousin of the deceased,

would seem to have been born in Walthamstow, but probably died in Plymouth in 1979.

Elizabeth Mooney, aunt of Margaret,

married and had two children, Daisy and Harold,

but did they go on to have children themselves?

Elizabeth's sister Caroline had one daughter, Kathleen.

All this research poses as many questions as it does answers,

but it has thrown up a potential heir and Tony has her on the phone.

We couldn't find any brothers or sisters. You're an only child. Good.

Your mum would have had some sisters, I think. She had two sisters, Sarah and Elizabeth.

And a brother, perhaps James, I think.

Was that just the four of them in the family?

What was Winifred's married name then?

Bishop. Right.

And this son that's still alive, would you know his name?

Oh, good. That's a good name.

Thanks ever so. Bye.

I've just put the phone down on a paternal cousin of the deceased, Kathleen Cutting.

She's got a good family knowledge. She knew the deceased. Hadn't seen her for years, as you don't.

And she also confirmed her other two aunts, one of whom had four children

and one of whom died without any issue.

It looks like there's going to be eight heirs on the father's side.

There's enough heirs to make it worth our while.

Tony's call to Kathleen has been really useful.

She has been able to confirm that her aunt, Elizabeth Mooney, had two more children.

This adds two more cousins to Margaret's tree.

Kathleen's phone call has also revealed the names of seven of her cousins once removed.

If they are still alive, then they would be heirs.

If they have died, then any children they had would inherit.

It's looking like there's a lot of work for the Heir Hunters to do.

Having made such headway by only 9.25am, Tony feels he deserves a break.

I'll get a cup of tea. I'm waiting for...

-'Tony, I've Bob Barratt for you.'

-I'm going to ask Bob Barratt to go round and interview Mrs Cutting.

Hello?

Hi, Bob. Listen, how long to Maidenhead, do you think?

-Um... I don't know, half an hour or so?

-That's good. Right, OK.

They've obviously been doing their work in the office very diligently.

It's only half past nine and they've already found an heir, so that's pretty good going.

Hello...?

Coming up on Heir Hunters -

Tony calls for reinforcements in his bid to sign up all the heirs ahead of the competition.

And a visit from Bob Barratt stirs up memories of family members not seen for decades.

I've lost touch with a lot of my relatives because I'm an old person.

I haven't seen Margaret for years.

I was rather surprised that there should be any connection at all.

Heir Hunters can be found all over the UK

and the search for a rightful beneficiary can take them anywhere.

Celtic Research is run by Peter and Hector Birchwood from their offices in Wales and London

and their regional case managers work from home. Saul Marks is based in Liverpool.

-PHONE RINGS

-Good afternoon, Celtic Research?

Saul had to work fast on the case of Olive Sonntag as it had a high value estate.

I will get the file out.

Thankfully, it was relatively easy to solve.

From the time that it got to me when the case opened

to the time that we signed the main heir was about 14 hours, so it was one of the quicker ones.

Though the investigation was quickly put to bed, it left a lasting impression on those involved.

I think, if anything, it's made me realise that money isn't everything.

It's family. That's the main thing.

Olive Sonntag died in 2008 in a care home on the Isle of Wight, aged 84.

She left behind an estate worth an estimated £130,000,

but no will.

Olive married Charles Sonntag, a photographer, in 1956.

Their partnership lasted more than 30 years, but they had no children.

After Charles died in 1989, Olive lived alone for ten years,

after which she developed dementia.

When she could no longer manage on her own, she was moved into a nursing home

where she spent the final years of her life.

The sad thing with Olly being here was that nobody came to visit her.

She had no relatives and it just made it so sad.

But it's a family home, so we treated her like part of the family.

She did tell me she had a sister.

But I said to her, "Where is she?" She said, "I don't know. We lost touch an awful long time ago."

That was the only reference she made to any family.

As fate would have it, Olive was able to be buried with her husband Charles

who had died 20 years before her.

I found her husband's grave when I went to another lady's funeral.

I thought, "We've found Olive's husband's grave - Charlie!"

So we were able to have her buried with him which was really nice.

-It finished it right for Olly that she was back with Charlie.

-Yeah.

That was lovely.

Having left behind an estate worth an estimated £130,000,

the case was a potentially lucrative one,

so Saul would have to work fast to crack it.

We knew that Olive was living on the Isle of Wight when she died.

We were able to find her marriage certificate and her maiden name was Kevan.

From that, we were able to look for an Olive Kevan birth

and found her birth near here in Birkenhead.

And from there, we were able to look for siblings.

We found a brother Norman who died when he was very young

and we also found a sister called Doreen.

We could then look for children of Doreen and that was the avenue we researched next.

Ernest Kevan married Catherine Bennett and they had three children, Olive, Norman and Doreen.

Norman died as a child, but Doreen married and had three children -

Jannette, Martin and Suzanne.

As Olive had no children, Jannette, Martin and Suzanne would be heirs.

Martin was married twice, but sadly he died very young. He was only 43.

But he had had several children

and we were able to establish that one of them was still living very close by and that was Cassie.

It was my job to get over to where Cassie lived and sign her up on behalf of the company.

Saul pulled up and he said, "Are you Cassandra Connolly?"

I said, "Yeah." He said, "Was your father Martin Connolly, deceased?" I said, "Yeah."

He said, "We need to go inside and have a talk. You might be about to inherit a lot of money."

The colour just drained from my face. I was shaking.

One company had visited her before and left a calling card.

And while I was there, another company, a third company had knocked at the door

and she was able to tell them

that she had already signed with Celtic Research and she no longer needed their services,

so it was very exciting in terms of the competition aspect.

20-year-old Cassie Connolly lives in Liverpool with her mother and is studying to be a tattoo artist.

Her father Martin, Olive's nephew, died of a heart attack in his early 40s.

My dad died when I was ten and my mum got divorced when I was eight.

So he obviously moved out, he had his own house.

I used to spend Tuesdays and Wednesdays and weekends with him.

I remember we had the same dinner every Tuesday -

macaroni cheese with Sunny Delight.

And I'd sit and watch Buffy in his little flat.

When he died, it was completely unexpected.

I just went to bed one night, I was staying at his house. We had spent the night watching DVDs.

So I went to bed and when I woke up, my mum was there.

I was confused instantly anyway.

And she said my dad took ill in the night and he'd died, he had a heart attack.

And that was it.

It was a complete shock.

My body went into shock. I was ill for the next couple of months.

It was hard to deal with, being so young. I didn't know how to handle it.

The memories I've got of my dad is the big friendly giant he was.

He was over six foot tall.

And I always remember having to run

to keep up with his strides when we were walking down the street.

I've just got the memories any kid will have of their dad really,

him looking after me and...

The big friendly giant, that's it.

After Martin died, Cassie had very little knowledge of her father's side of the family

and so news of Olive was surprising.

It was a bit of a shock to find out that I had a great-auntie I knew nothing about.

It was quite sad as well that I only got to learn of her existence because she had died.

I would have liked to have known Olive when she was alive to find out about my nan

and maybe more about my dad if she knew anything.

So it was... It was bittersweet really.

Coming up - Cassie decides to pay her respects to Olive in person

and visits the home where she spent her final years.

-That's her at home in her house.

-Aw!

-With her dog. She was still quite beautiful.

-Yeah.

For every case that is cracked, there are still many thousands which remain a mystery.

These cases sit on the Treasury's unsolved list and can remain there for up to 30 years.

The estates can range wildly in value from £5,000 to many millions

with the rightful heirs completely unaware of the windfall they could claim.

Today, we've got two cases Heir Hunters have so far failed to solve.

Could you have the answer? Could you be in line to inherit?

Joyce Lily Anthony passed away in February 1999 in Hackney, London.

In the decade since Joyce died, nobody has come forward as her next of kin.

Did you know her? Could you be entitled to her estate?

Elizabeth Barbara Mountjoy Erroll died in South Strand, East Preston in September 2000.

Did you know Elizabeth? Could you be in line to inherit her estate?

Back in London, the Frasers team are tracing heirs to the estate of Margaret Mooney

who passed away in Chingford in 2008, leaving behind an estimated £200,000.

So far, the team have established from neighbours

that Margaret died with no living near kin.

Her father's side of the tree has been relatively easy to solve and revealed Margaret had three aunts.

Travelling Heir Hunter Ewart Lindsay has made enquiries with neighbours into Margaret's background.

Good morning. I'm making some enquiries into your neighbour who passed away.

And Bob Barratt is on his way to visit a potential cousin of the deceased in Berkshire.

Although Margaret was shy, she never hesitated to offer her assistance to those in need

and showed a continued commitment to voluntary work and charity until the end of her life.

Margaret was awarded one of the long service medals we give out to people

and this is to celebrate the fact that they have shown so many years of dedication.

It's not just that they have signed up for that, but they have turned up for duty day after day.

We're very proud of those people.

In addition to donating her time to charity,

Margaret also donated a lot of money to one of her favourite causes.

She had a plaque on the wall from the Lifeboat Association.

She wouldn't brag about it at all. If she wanted to give a donation to people, she obviously just did it.

After Margaret died, the neighbours decided to follow her lead and donate some money in her memory.

We made a list. I'm very much into lists. We made a list of everybody to knock on.

And everybody that we knocked wanted to donate

and quite a number of them wanted to come to the funeral as well.

So in the end, we got enough money to put a very nice floral tribute for the top of the coffin

and a donation of £60 to the Whipps Cross Connaught Day Centre

and £60 to Lifeboats.

So I think we did quite well really.

Over two hours after research began, Gareth and his colleagues are still struggling

with the maternal side and the name they are researching is Fraser.

We're getting a bit competitive in the company

because Jo has got her side up to date,

whereas we - and there's five of us working on this side - have got absolutely nowhere.

So Jo's beaten us, basically.

I think she just got lucky. We've clearly got the harder side of the job.

I mean, Fraser is a terrible name to work.

There goes my bonus!

What Gareth has managed to uncover is that Margaret's mother Alice Fraser had three siblings -

Alexander John, Edith and Albert.

He knows Edith died before 1911,

but what happened to Alexander and Albert?

According to a census, Gareth knows one of the brothers also died before 1911, but which one?

So we've got one outstanding who might have children,

but it's one stem we can't find at the moment, so it doesn't help.

Another clue from the census research is that John Fraser, Margaret's grandfather,

worked in the tea trade during the early part of the 20th century,

a highly lucrative industry at this time.

It was a very, very busy life

and an incredibly dynamic trade.

Tea was pouring into Britain from all over the Empire.

We would have had thousands of small and medium-sized tea businesses, all prospering,

because in John Fraser's time all the tea that was sold in the world was auctioned in London.

I suppose from a social point of view, as a tea merchant,

John Fraser would be in the upper echelons of the commercial world.

So they would be in the same social category as bankers and headmasters, headmistresses, etcetera.

They would definitely be highly regarded

because it was a very skilled and experienced trade.

It was a very secure business and tea, of course, was Britain's favourite beverage by a mile.

In fact, at that time, about 50% of the fluid that we took on a daily basis was tea.

In Chingford, Ewart is keen to report back on what he has learnt from the neighbours.

Tony Pledger, please...

But Tony has more pressing issues to deal with, like his 9.45am cake break.

I hate when they do this.

DIALLING TONE

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

-Hello?

-Hello, Ewart.

Tony needs Ewart to head over to Southgate to meet a cousin once removed to Margaret.

There doesn't appear to be any competition on this job. I can't believe it.

It's worth a bit of money.

While Ewart makes his way over to Southgate, Bob Barratt has arrived at Kathleen Cutting's house,

a paternal cousin of Margaret's, for an interview.

What I'd like to do, if you are in agreement, is a family questionnaire.

-How many children were there from your parents' marriage?

-Just me. One.

-And to your knowledge, were either of your parents married more than once?

-No.

No, they weren't.

-And your mother's maiden name?

-Mooney. Mabel Mooney.

-Mabel?

-Yes.

-That's a museum name.

-It is, isn't it?

Kathleen has verified everything she told Tony on the phone earlier.

Bob will leave paperwork with her to look over.

And recounting her family history has stirred up memories of Margaret for Kathleen.

Well, I knew her when we were both little girls. She was a little bit older than I am. She was very shy.

I imagine this has contributed to losing touch over the years.

When my uncle died, we really lost contact completely.

With much of the father's side of the tree solved,

the team working on the mother's side have been desperate for a breakthrough. Finally, it's arrived!

Frances has identified the marriage of Albert Edward Fraser and Jenny Henderson Clark

in Winnipeg in Manitoba,

which occurred on the 3rd of December, 1919.

We have an agent in Canada.

He might be able to do something,

but it's not helpful.

And Tony has his second heir of the day on the phone - Michael, son of Daisy Wyatt.

We think that you would be entitled, as would be your siblings.

I understand that Donald,

I think he might have passed away in Colchester about ten years ago or so.

Was he married to somebody called Margaret, do you know?

Primrose, oh. Did they have children? That's the most important thing.

Two boys, right. And would you be in touch with them at all? No?

Michael has filled in some more of the tree.

He confirmed that his brother Donald married and had two children who would be heirs.

He also informs Tony of his sisters Joyce and Peggy.

Both of them had children who would now be heirs.

His information is further filling out what is already a very crowded family tree.

Tony needs to send a travelling Heir Hunter to interview Michael as soon as possible.

-'Tony, I've got Bob Barratt on 608 for you.'

-Thanks. Bye.

What's happening? I've got no idea.

Bob Barratt, 608.

-Tony!

-What?

-What number is that phone?

-452.

I haven't got a tree here.

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

-Hi, Tony. Right, I've just been to see Mrs Cutting.

-Yeah.

Her son told her not to sign anything until he'd seen it,

-so I've left her agreements...

-'As you would, yeah.'

-I've got Bob Smith doing nothing.

-Have you?

-N1 North.

-N1 North?

'Tell him...

'Is that Bob Smith?'

-Go to Wisbech. I'll catch him in a minute.

-No worries.

Er, Dave, Bob...?

Yeah, what day is it(?)

I think it's probably "pull over, have a cup of tea and regroup" time.

-OK. I'll wait to hear from you then.

-Thanks, mate. Bye.

With Tony not knowing whether he's coming or going,

one thing that is for sure is that Bob Smith is on the road.

On such a high value case, there's no time to lose, so Bob has been called in for reinforcement.

He's being sent to see Michael in Cambridgeshire.

Meanwhile, Ewart has been sent to see Anthony, a paternal cousin once removed to Margaret,

and arranged a meeting for a few days' time.

With Michael's revelation about Antonia, a paternal cousin twice removed to Margaret,

Ewart is sent to her home immediately.

Bob Smith will be going somewhere, yes. To Wisbech, I think.

And we've got... Ewart is popping down to N8.

And we've got somebody else, I can't remember what his name is, he's having a cup of tea.

So we're coming along. We're nearly there.

Finally, Gareth has an answer on the fate of Alexander John,

uncle of Margaret Mooney on her mother's side.

We've just had the death of Alexander Fraser phoned through.

Alexander John Fraser died as John Alexander, a police constable.

He was 38 when he died, so that's quite a lot of scope for him to have got married.

We think he was single because we can't find a good marriage for him.

We've just got the death certificate and we know that he died on the 19th of October, 1910.

The informant is just a coroner and the reason for that is because he committed suicide.

He drowned in the River Lee.

So it hasn't got us huge amounts further, but we do know a bit more about him now which is good.

Gareth and the team can put Margaret's mother's side of the family on hold

and wait to see if Canadian enquiries offer any further leads in a few days' time.

In the meantime, Ewart has arrived at an heir's house in North London,

but unfortunately, she is too ill for a meeting today,

so Frasers will have to write to her instead.

Meanwhile, Bob Barratt is on his way to Newmarket to see another potential heir.

And Bob Smith has arrived at the home of Michael, a paternal cousin once removed to Margaret,

and more importantly, another heir.

Hello, Mr Wood? I'm Robert Smith from Fraser & Fraser.

A relation going back through your grandmother's family has died without making a will.

-If I could start with your full birth name?

-Michael Leslie Richard.

I think my family all wanted to have a little piece of the action when they named me.

-And the little 'un?

-That's Paddy, my daughter's son.

Now, how many children from your parents' marriage?

-My eldest sister Peggy.

-Yeah.

My second sister Joyce who's died.

-I don't know what's happened to Peggy. She's disappeared.

-Oh, right.

I think the last time I knew of Peggy, she was living in Shoreham.

-But that was years ago.

-Right.

-So there was Joycey.

-Yeah.

-And Donald.

-The eldest you say was Peggy? Is that right?

-Yes.

-Now, any children at all?

-Just Lynn and Ian from the second marriage.

Hello! Are you OK?

He's strong, isn't he?

-Yeah.

-Eh?

Michael's knowledge of his family has filled in more information on the tree,

so Frasers will help him make a claim to the estate.

It was a surprise when the call came this morning.

It's too early for me to say I've got plans because I wouldn't know.

I'll wait and see if anything happens.

And I'm sure my family, if there was anything of any size,

would be more than willing to help me decide how to spend it.

That was a very nice interview

with a very lovely gentleman and his wife and a grandson.

I'm confident we'll get the contract.

38 miles away, Bob Barratt has arrived in Newmarket,

but after a long drive, the heir doesn't seem to be at home, so Bob calls on a neighbour.

-He works irregular hours.

-Oh, right.

Bob decides to leave a note to let the heir know he called.

Back in the office, spirits are high.

It's half past two in the afternoon

and I'm pleased to say that through diligent research on behalf of my colleagues,

this case appears to be finished.

Only about eight heirs, I think.

We spoke to the majority of people, we visited most of them as well.

It seems to be going fairly well, I'm pleased to say.

When the case finally closed, the company managed to sign up nine heirs,

all on the father's side of the family, having beaten competition from rival firms.

These beneficiaries will share in Margaret's £200,000 estate.

Saul at Celtic Research has been investigating the estate of Olive Sonntag

who died in 2008,

leaving behind an estimated £130,000.

One of the five heirs to the estate, 20-year-old Cassie Connolly,

has only just learned of the existence of her great aunt.

I would like to have known Olive when she was alive to find out about my nan and maybe more about my dad

if she knew anything.

As Saul's research into the family continued, he has been able to bring Olive's past to life for Cassie.

This is Olive with an aeroplane.

Jan writes, "I don't think Olive owns this plane!"

I wonder if she flew it? You never know.

It would make sense that that's your dad.

It's just nice thinking of it as him.

-It's nice to look at him.

-You've never seen any of him at that sort of age?

-No. Never.

-It certainly makes sense that it's him. Definitely.

-Yeah.

-That does look like Doreen.

-Yeah.

With the revelation of family members she never knew she had,

Cassie felt compelled to pay her respects to Olive

and decided to journey to the Isle of Wight, accompanied by her boyfriend Jake.

I think it's a good idea going to the Isle of Wight, actually.

If you're inheriting money off a family member,

it's obviously disrespectful not to go and find out more.

It gives her a chance to search more into her family background as well.

Cassie and Jake have an appointment with Daphne from Whiteley Bank House

where Olive spent the last few years of her life.

Today is important because I'm getting to find out about a relative I didn't know I had.

I'm hoping to find out more about my dad and that side of the family.

I'm just about to find out now and I'm excited.

As Olive seemingly had no next of kin,

all her possessions and memories have been kept safe by the care home.

See? "Next of kin"? And we've found you!

-She's like a film star, isn't she?

-Yeah.

You can see how beautiful she was. She was lovely.

-Oh, wow!

-And this is when she was older, look.

-She was still beautiful then.

-Yeah.

This... The pictures that Saul showed me that Jan, my auntie from America, sent over...

This resembles her a lot when she was a kid.

And that looks like my dad.

So I think that might have been my dad when he was younger.

-Is he still alive?

-No, he died ten years ago nearly.

-Yeah?

-It's coming up to ten years in January.

-Crikey! He couldn't have been very old.

-No, he was 42 when he died.

-That's my dad.

-Hmm.

I think so.

Coming here, the whole situation being made so much more of a reality to me,

I want to go and see where Olive was buried.

I felt like I've just dealt with the whole...family member dying,

so maybe a bit of closure.

I think that's... It's happened in such a short time.

But it's sad, so I want to go and see where she was buried.

Olive was buried in the Isle of Wight beside her husband Charles.

-Shall we put them in...?

-Yeah.

'I'm just really glad that I've been given the opportunity

'to do everything I've been able to do

'and learn of a new family member and come and say goodbye to her, really.'

Me and Jake spoke about it. I'll come back at least once a year and put some flowers at her graveside.

I'm just really happy and sad at the same time.

I'm glad I got to come and do this and I'm glad she's buried with Charles as well.

It's really lovely.

If you would like advice about building your family tree or making a will,

go to: bbc.co.uk

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2010

Email [email protected]