0:00:01 > 0:00:04It's a Thursday morning
0:00:04 > 0:00:06and a team of heir hunters are taking a gamble
0:00:06 > 0:00:09trying to trace the beneficiaries of an estate
0:00:09 > 0:00:13that could be worth anything from £5,000 to many millions.
0:00:13 > 0:00:20They're looking for long-lost relatives who have no idea they could be in line for a windfall.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Could they be knocking at your door?
0:00:39 > 0:00:44On today's programme, after a slow start in the office,
0:00:44 > 0:00:48the heir hunters take a gamble on the estate of the late William Brown.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53It all sounds very speculative to me. But they're usually right and I'm usually wrong.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56And in Clee Hill, Shropshire,
0:00:56 > 0:01:01Lord Teviot unearths ancient family secrets as he searches for heirs.
0:01:01 > 0:01:06Bigamy was something people were pushed towards by the legal circumstances of the day.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09Plus, how you could be entitled to unclaimed estates
0:01:09 > 0:01:12where beneficiaries need to be found.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Could you be in line for a cash payout?
0:01:21 > 0:01:28Every year in the UK, an estimated 300,000 people die without leaving a will.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34If no relatives are found, then any money that's left behind will go to the government.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39And last year, they made £12 million from unclaimed estates.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46But there are over 30 specialist firms competing to stop this happening.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51They're called heir hunters and they make it their business to track down missing relatives
0:01:51 > 0:01:54and help them claim their rightful inheritance.
0:01:54 > 0:02:00Dare I say, it is rewarding when one can put people in touch with one another.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07It's a Thursday morning,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11and overnight, the Treasury has advertised a new list of unclaimed estates.
0:02:14 > 0:02:21Using the list, heir hunting company Fraser and Fraser are deciding which estates are worth pursuing.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23- That doesn't sound like he owns property.- No.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26But it's not looking promising.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31Finding heirs costs money, and the team must be as sure as they can be
0:02:31 > 0:02:36that estates are worth enough for them to cover their costs and turn in a profit.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Heir hunters generally work for an agreed percentage of the estate,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44so the larger the estate, the larger their commission.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49Six cases out today. None of them look as though they've got much value.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54The team decides to take a closer look at the advertised lists.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57Can we take copies of the trees
0:02:57 > 0:02:59and then put all the paperwork on the table?
0:02:59 > 0:03:04Initial research suggests that none of the deceased on the list own property.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08Looks like there's an ex-council flat,
0:03:08 > 0:03:13so whether we've got any value here, we don't know.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Partner Neil Fraser has seen better days.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20- None of them have got any hope. - They've all got the same hope.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22No hope at all. HE LAUGHS
0:03:22 > 0:03:27Today, Neil has no choice but to chase cases he normally wouldn't consider.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30We haven't picked up any cases in our tier one,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34our valuable cases, the ones with property.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37So it moves us down to the second-tier cases.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42As it stands at the moment, we haven't got any of them, either.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47Neil prays taking a gamble on one of the third tier estates will pay off.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53We're hoping that some of the cases we work move up into a tier two,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56where it's going to be nearer £20,000 to £50,000 in value.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01With this in mind, Neil picks a case for the team to chase.
0:04:06 > 0:04:14William Charles Brown died in 2000 in Charing Cross Hospital in London, aged just 59.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16From 1983 until his death,
0:04:16 > 0:04:21he'd lived in a flat in Roehampton, where his neighbour remembers him fondly.
0:04:21 > 0:04:27When he died, the atmosphere in this house was completely different.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30It was like something had been lost here.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33He was a real nice guy, actually.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36I do miss him as a neighbour, to be honest.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39William was known as Billy to his friends
0:04:39 > 0:04:43and no-one had been friends with him longer than George Jago.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48They first met working together in a furniture warehouse.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50I met him about 1968
0:04:50 > 0:04:54and then I went to work with him in 1970
0:04:54 > 0:04:56and we stayed pals ever since then.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00But he was, without a doubt, part of our family.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05Billy went on to become a grave digger at Putney Vale Cemetery.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10During his long years there, he became close friends with co-worker David Farr.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15We was the best of mates. We stuck together.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18The main thing I miss is the friendship.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23David remembers him as a content man with simple pleasures.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Billy was a bit of a teddy boy. He was a bit of a lad with cars.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31He was always wanting something smart. I can't remember how many cars he actually had.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33But he used to love his car.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40When Billy died in 2000, his friends George and David granted his last wish,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43to be buried next to his beloved mother.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49During his life, Billy was deeply affected by the death of his mum
0:05:49 > 0:05:54and lost all contact with his wider family, a fact that doesn't help the heir hunters.
0:05:56 > 0:06:02Their first job is to find Billy's birth records and his London address.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Apparently, I'm looking for William C Brown now.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08And there should still be quite a lot of William C Browns.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12William Brown is an extremely common name,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16but the team have discovered Billy's middle name was Charles.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19This makes researcher Simon Mills' job slightly easier.
0:06:21 > 0:06:22HE LAUGHS
0:06:22 > 0:06:27There is apparently only one William Brown with the initial C.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Although no-one knows how much Billy's estate could be worth,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35there could still be plenty of competition to find his heirs.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39But trawling the electoral role of the area where Billy died,
0:06:39 > 0:06:43Simon gets lucky and finds a possible address for him
0:06:43 > 0:06:47on a council estate in Roehampton, Southwest London.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49Yeah. Yeah.
0:06:49 > 0:06:56If he died, there's a possibility that he died in either Kingston or Charing Cross Hospital.
0:06:56 > 0:07:03This is a good lead, but all the information the team have at this point is purely speculative
0:07:03 > 0:07:07as they have no proof yet that they've found the right William Brown.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10It's early days yet, yeah. OK.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15We've got a date of birth. We've got what we think is his last known address.
0:07:16 > 0:07:17What we need is the death.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22The death certificate may contain vital clues for the team.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Listed on it could be a person's occupation,
0:07:25 > 0:07:32- date and place of birth, where they died and potentially their former address.- Right.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38Being such a quiet day, most of the office staff are working the Brown estate.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42Case manager Tony Pledger hopes to get ahead of any competition
0:07:42 > 0:07:46and decides to send out one of the company's travelling heir hunters.
0:07:49 > 0:07:55Ex-policeman Bob Barratt is one of Fraser and Fraser's squadron of travellers
0:07:55 > 0:07:57who are willing to go wherever a case takes them.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00Based all over the UK and abroad,
0:08:00 > 0:08:04their job is to follow the clues and sniff out potential heirs
0:08:04 > 0:08:07and inform them of their deceased relative's estate.
0:08:08 > 0:08:15At the moment, I'm heading towards Fulham Register Office
0:08:15 > 0:08:20but whether or not that'll get changed in the meantime, who knows?
0:08:24 > 0:08:29Case manager Tony has a problem with the details of Billy's birth
0:08:29 > 0:08:32and wants to get to the bottom of it fast.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36We now think that he might have been born up in Claro,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39which I think is Yorkshire,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42in 1941,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45but the birth was re-registered in 1955.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49So why would Billy's birth have been re-registered?
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Tony gets Simon on the case.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Meanwhile, the team has also found a potential marriage for Billy's parents,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59so Tony passes on what little information they've got to Bob.
0:09:03 > 0:09:09The office think that William Charles Brown may have been born in 1941...
0:09:12 > 0:09:17..to a Mary B Sheridan, who married someone called Simpson.
0:09:17 > 0:09:22It all sounds very simple, but for Tony, things are still up in the air.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25We think, and it's only thinking at the moment,
0:09:25 > 0:09:30that the deceased was the child of parents that subsequently married when he was about 15.
0:09:30 > 0:09:35And it looks as if, from the mother's earlier marriage,
0:09:35 > 0:09:41there might be several half-brothers and sisters of the deceased.
0:09:42 > 0:09:49If Tony has the right William C Brown, AKA Billy, from the birth records,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52then he was born in Yorkshire to parents Charles and Mary
0:09:52 > 0:09:54and was their only child.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Using Mary's maiden name on the birth records,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01they discover she'd previously been married in 1922
0:10:01 > 0:10:04and she'd had six children.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07Potentially, these are Billy's family and heirs.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10In the office, Simon thinks he may have got to the bottom of
0:10:10 > 0:10:15how and why Billy's birth was registered twice.
0:10:15 > 0:10:20Look at the image. Where William C Brown should be, there's a mark, a cross.
0:10:20 > 0:10:26Down at the bottom of the page, we can see that William C Brown's been put in
0:10:26 > 0:10:31and it mentions that he's been reregistered in March 1955.
0:10:31 > 0:10:37What it looks like has happened is his mother, who was married to Mr Simpson at the time,
0:10:37 > 0:10:41had him with Mr Brown
0:10:41 > 0:10:43during the war.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46They subsequently got married in 1955
0:10:46 > 0:10:52and to legitimise the birth, they've reregistered the birth in 1955.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57A potential headache for the heir hunters has been solved.
0:10:57 > 0:11:03Billy's parents had him out of wedlock, but reregistered his birth later on, once they'd married.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08Tony now sets about trying to trace Billy's potential half-brothers and sisters.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Do you think we've got enough sheets of paper now?
0:11:11 > 0:11:13Er, yeah. And all of them are actually useful.
0:11:13 > 0:11:19Using census records, he thinks he may have found a half-brother living in Harlow.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22A fantastic result this early on in the hunt.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27Tony calls Bob again, whose wish list of certificates is growing by the minute.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32Hello, Bob. Just letting you know that we might have a half-brother of the deceased on the phone
0:11:32 > 0:11:37- living in Harlow.- Right.- And there's potentially three or four
0:11:37 > 0:11:40other half-blood siblings on the mother's side.
0:11:40 > 0:11:46- Anyway, so it's all down to you to get the marriage of the potential parents out of Fulham.- No bother.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51HE SIGHS
0:11:52 > 0:11:58Tony's frustrated at all the assumptions and guesswork with this case, but he's not the only one.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00It all sounds very speculative to me.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05But they're usually right and I'm usually wrong, so the next few minutes will tell.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Tony's not going to rest on his laurels.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12Using information gleaned from the electoral roll,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15he's calling the man he suspects was Billy's half-brother.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18He is 84-year-old George Simpson
0:12:18 > 0:12:22and could be the first heir Tony has spoken to.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24All right, thanks a lot. Bye.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31Right, well, that was talking to the son of the potential brother of the deceased.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36It's beginning to look like it's the right family, though I can't be sure,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40but whether or not it turns out to be financially viable, I've got no idea at the moment.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45George Simpson could be the key that unlocks this case.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49His family knowledge could be vital to the heir hunters.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53He's one of six potential children from Billy's mother's first marriage
0:12:53 > 0:12:55to Benjamin Simpson.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58The couple married in 1922
0:12:58 > 0:13:00and had George four years later.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03It's a great lead for Tony
0:13:03 > 0:13:06and Bob's got even more news from Fulham Register Office.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11Hello, Tony. I've got the first death come back. I thought I'd ring it in to you.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14This is our deceased, William Charles Brown.
0:13:14 > 0:13:20Billy's death certificate has confirmed they are chasing the right William C Brown.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25The date of birth matches, as does the place of birth in Yorkshire.
0:13:25 > 0:13:31Bob's also now laid his hands on Billy's parents' marriage certificate and death certificate.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35So that marriage was right. OK. The death of the mother was right. OK.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38Do you reckon you could get anything out of Wandsworth?
0:13:38 > 0:13:41- Yeah, they're normally good. - Trundle over to Wandsworth, then.
0:13:41 > 0:13:47Tony suspects Billy's mother's second marriage could've happened around the Wandsworth area.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50He hopes Bob can track down the certificate
0:13:50 > 0:13:52at the different register office.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55That's a good idea. Thanks. Bye.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06The heir hunters are making progress but they still have no idea
0:14:06 > 0:14:09whether there is actually any money in Billy¹s estate.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14But researcher Simon Grosvenor knows appearances can be deceptive.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19Several years ago now, I did an enquiry in a block of council flats
0:14:19 > 0:14:23at the bottom of the Hammersmith flyover, they looked straight out onto the dual carriageway.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27He lived in two rooms, no fridge, no television,
0:14:27 > 0:14:32walked around as the usual tramp-type figure, trousers held up with string,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35and he had three quarters of a million pounds in the bank.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Could Billy's estate be a similar case?
0:14:39 > 0:14:44The heir hunters are working as quickly as they can to track down his beneficiaries,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47but there are some things you just can't plan for.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51The traffic is a lot worse than I thought it was going to be.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54I'll try my best to get there in time.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02Heir hunting isn't always an exact science.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06Some cases are straightforward. They get plucked from the Treasury¹s list
0:15:06 > 0:15:10and are solved within days by the heir hunters.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15Others prove that little bit trickier and can remain unsolved for many years.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24Georgina Greenhouse was born in Middleton-in-Teesdale.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29She died in 1998 aged 96, but she left no will.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38Her £11,000 estate remained unclaimed for over 11 years.
0:15:38 > 0:15:43That is, until heir hunter Lord Teviot got involved.
0:15:43 > 0:15:44I think I'll make a note of that.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51Husband and wife heir hunting team Charles and Mary, AKA the Lord and Lady Teviot,
0:15:51 > 0:15:58each run their own heir hunting companies that specialise in older, unsolved cases
0:15:58 > 0:16:02that have remained on the treasury's list for a very long time.
0:16:02 > 0:16:08These are estates other companies have either failed to solve or have deemed too small to take on.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Well, I think I have a telephone number for him.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16The couple cover cases that can lead all over the world
0:16:16 > 0:16:20and it was Charles's business partner Chris in Australia
0:16:20 > 0:16:24who spotted the case of Georgina Greenhouse.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28There was a deceased, Georgina Greenhouse, born 1902,
0:16:28 > 0:16:32in the Middleton district, Teesdale.
0:16:33 > 0:16:38Charles began to piece together what little information he had.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Georgina never married or ever had any children.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46She more or less lived most of her life
0:16:46 > 0:16:50in Stanhope or near Stanhope in Weardale.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53And she died in a nursing home there.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57Charles would have to widen his search.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00He went back to Georgina's birth certificate.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05So it wasn't difficult to find the marriage in August 1899
0:17:05 > 0:17:11of the two parents, Benjamin Thomas Greenhouse and Florence Elizabeth Horn.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15Georgina's parents, Benjamin and Florence,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19married near the Shropshire village of Clee Hills, which is famed for its stone.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26At the time of their marriage, quarrying had become big business in Clee Hills
0:17:26 > 0:17:29and this had a dramatic effect on the local community.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33It's known that, by the late 1800s,
0:17:33 > 0:17:37there were between 1,500 and 2,000 men working here
0:17:37 > 0:17:39in the quarrying and mining industries.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44So that meant that something like 1,500 people had to be brought in from other parts of the country,
0:17:44 > 0:17:50and with their families, that means an enormous increase in population to between 5,000 and 6,000 people.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Against this backdrop of change in Clee Hills,
0:17:55 > 0:17:57the Greenhouse family was expanding
0:17:57 > 0:18:04and Charles was about to make a surprising discovery on the 1901 census.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Florence first had a daughter,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12another Florence, in Teesdale in 1898.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17This was a year before Benjamin and Florence's marriage,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21meaning Florence junior's birth was illegitimate.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23But, two years after the couple's marriage,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25they had a second daughter.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Georgina and the family seemed to be blossoming.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34Then suddenly, Benjamin disappeared from the records.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37Clearly, he had gone.
0:18:37 > 0:18:44And Georgina was living with two other siblings
0:18:44 > 0:18:46who were called Lowther.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50It seemed Florence Greenhouse had a new man in her life.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54This was confirmed when Charles searched under her maiden name, Horn,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57and found a marriage to a Mr Lowther.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01When Florence Elizabeth Horn
0:19:01 > 0:19:04married Mr Lowther in 1918,
0:19:04 > 0:19:08she put herself down as spinster.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11To describe herself as a spinster,
0:19:11 > 0:19:15Florence must have been either divorced or widowed from Benjamin Greenhouse.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19But Charles could find no records of Benjamin's death
0:19:19 > 0:19:24or the couple's divorce and Florence had now remarried and had two more children,
0:19:24 > 0:19:27who were half-blood siblings to the young Georgina.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32It seemed Florence had committed bigamy.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37The records show she was still married to Benjamin Greenhouse when she married Mr Lowther.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43It's probably quite important to be aware that bigamy in this instance
0:19:43 > 0:19:46would've been quite different to the kind of bigamy
0:19:46 > 0:19:49we're used to thinking about today.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54We're not talking about a case of a husband who keeps three or four wives on the go
0:19:54 > 0:19:56and jets between them.
0:19:56 > 0:20:02Really, bigamy in cases like this was something that was forced on people through circumstances.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04Because divorce was so expensive,
0:20:04 > 0:20:10there really was no other option if you wanted to form another relationship
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and if you wanted to get that legally recognised.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17So we can see that bigamy was something that people were pushed towards
0:20:17 > 0:20:19by the legal circumstances of the day.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24But the bigamous marriage didn't concern Charles.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27If anything, it opened new lines of enquiry.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31He could now look for heirs from Georgina's two new half siblings
0:20:31 > 0:20:34and her older sister, Florence.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38But sadly, none of them had children.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42The next stage was to see if Georgina had aunts or uncles
0:20:42 > 0:20:44who could lead Charles to cousins.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49On the paternal side, there were none. There were no Horns.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53So we only had Greenhouse, of which there were a great many, there were eight.
0:20:53 > 0:20:58Georgina's father Benjamin Greenhouse had four brothers and four sisters.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03Their descendants would be heirs to Georgina's £11,000 estate.
0:21:06 > 0:21:12And one did notice there was a Fanny Greenhouse
0:21:12 > 0:21:15that married an Alexander Perkins.
0:21:15 > 0:21:21Then one was told that the youngest one of all was Millicent.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25Millicent Perrot was born in Clee Hills but now lives in London.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30Her grandmother was Georgina's aunt, Fanny Greenhouse,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32and Charles was confident she was an heir.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37Yes, it was a bit of a shock, in a way.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Cos I'd never heard of Georgina Greenhouse.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43She may have known me,
0:21:43 > 0:21:48but no, it was a real surprise.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51And I found it very exciting, you know?
0:21:51 > 0:21:54Millicent was one of six children,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58but tragedy struck the family when she was still very young.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03My mother died when I was five and she died, unfortunately,
0:22:03 > 0:22:06having a child.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10So I can't remember my mother very well.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12But I do my father.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15He died when I was six.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20I do remember him and I've been told since
0:22:20 > 0:22:23that he was quite a joker
0:22:23 > 0:22:26and always playing games.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29Because her father died so young,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Millicent grew up knowing very little about her family.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37But for Charles, the mystery of the Greenhouses was pretty much solved.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Through Georgina's eight aunts and uncles,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45he'd found over 30 heirs to her £11,000 estate
0:22:45 > 0:22:48and the case was almost wrapped up.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54But still to come, Charles learns his hard work had been in vain.
0:22:55 > 0:23:00One's very philosophical about these things. If it's egg on one's face, fair enough.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04And the team at Fraser struggle in their race to find heirs.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09- Did he know anything about his Aunt Maureen?- No, he didn't.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21In the UK, the treasury has a list of over 2,000 estates
0:23:21 > 0:23:25that have baffled the heir hunters and remain unclaimed.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28So could you be the heir they've been looking for?
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Estates can stay on the list for up to 30 years
0:23:32 > 0:23:38and each one could be worth anything from £5,000 to many millions.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41It's money that could be destined for you.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Today, we're focusing on three names from the list.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47Are they relatives of yours?
0:23:48 > 0:23:54Franklin Nwane Osadebe died aged 48 in 2004 in London.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57Do you recognize his Nigerian surname?
0:23:58 > 0:24:02So far, all efforts to trace his heirs have failed.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06Or did you know Timothy Houlihan?
0:24:06 > 0:24:10He died in December 2008 in Oxfordshire.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14If no heirs are found for his estate, the money will go to the government.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Or finally, Maria Joahne Hoile.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24She died aged 89 in the year 2000.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28Her Scandinavian surname is prevalent in the South East of England.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35If the names Franklin Nwane Osadebe, Timothy Houlihan
0:24:35 > 0:24:38or Maria Joahne Hoile mean anything to you,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41then you could have a windfall on its way.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52William Charles Brown, Billy to his friends,
0:24:52 > 0:24:57died from cancer in 2000 aged just 59 years old.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59He'd never married or had any children
0:24:59 > 0:25:04and his friends remember him as a man who loved to work hard and play hard.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10Billy had loads of friends. Everybody liked Billy.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14He was just 120 percent a great guy.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17He used to have a drink and a laugh and joke all the time
0:25:17 > 0:25:21and go home and have a kip. That's what Billy used to do. Yeah.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23By all accounts, Billy was a loveable rogue.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27But beneath his tattoos and fast cars, he hid a gentle soul.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30You could tell he was a mum's boy.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34We actually buried his ashes in the cemetery with his mother
0:25:34 > 0:25:36in respect for him to be with his mother,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40which I would've thought he'd always wanted to be, next to his own kin.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45After his mother's death, Billy lost contact with any family he had
0:25:45 > 0:25:49and heir hunting company Fraser and Fraser are now trying to find them.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53But they have no idea if Billy even had any money.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55Quite frustrating, I think, for the researchers,
0:25:55 > 0:25:59because all their hard work could end up in a file in the bin.
0:25:59 > 0:26:05But case manager Tony Pledger has made good progress in tracking down Billy's possible heirs.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10Let's put that on the pile of things we have to worry about later.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15The team have discovered that Billy's mother and father married in the mid 1950s
0:26:15 > 0:26:18and he was their only child.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20His mother had had a previous marriage
0:26:20 > 0:26:26and it is the children from her first relationship that are leading Tony to heirs.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31On the mother's side, the mother was previously married to a fella called Benjamin Simpson
0:26:31 > 0:26:37and had five, possibly six, children from that marriage
0:26:37 > 0:26:40who would be half-brothers of the deceased.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44Tony has sent out travelling heir hunter Bob Barratt.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48He's on his way to collect vital certificates from the register office
0:26:48 > 0:26:52that could crack this case and lead the team to heirs.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56I've just applied for a copy of the marriage certificate
0:26:56 > 0:27:00of our deceased person's mother's first marriage.
0:27:00 > 0:27:06If Bob can find the right marriage of Mary to her first husband, the office will have confirmation
0:27:06 > 0:27:11that the potential half-blood heirs they are chasing are from the right family.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13I've got the certificates I wanted.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17The death of a Patricia Vivien Lawrence,
0:27:17 > 0:27:24whose maiden name was Simpson, so probably is the deceased's half-sister, or was,
0:27:24 > 0:27:26and...
0:27:27 > 0:27:31..the deceased's mother's first marriage to a Benjamin Simpson
0:27:31 > 0:27:33back in 1922.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38This is the news the office has been waiting for.
0:27:38 > 0:27:43It means they've been tracing the right family and, more importantly, the right heirs.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46Billy's half brother George is alive and well
0:27:46 > 0:27:51and Bob has confirmed the death of half sister Patricia.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54But there are still other siblings and heirs for the team to track down.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59On a roll, Tony calls in a second travelling heir hunter.
0:27:59 > 0:28:05We've got Dave Hadley going to Romford to hopefully interview the son of Vera Hale,
0:28:05 > 0:28:09who'd be a sister of the deceased, half-sister of the deceased.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12Vera died in 1999
0:28:12 > 0:28:15but had two children who could be heirs.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Patricia had four children
0:28:17 > 0:28:19and as half-blood nephews of the deceased,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22they are entitled.
0:28:22 > 0:28:28And then we get some others that we can't yet figure out, there's a Maureen Simpson and a Coleen,
0:28:28 > 0:28:30and we haven't got that one up to date yet.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33So it's going quite well, really.
0:28:34 > 0:28:40Tony wishes the same could be said for Bob. He¹s trying desperately to get to their first heir,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42Billy's half brother George.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46The traffic is a lot worse than I thought it was going to be.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49I'll be about half an hour late, if that's OK?
0:28:54 > 0:29:00Luckily, in Romford, Dave is having more luck. He's beaten any competition he may be up against.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02"Your destination is straight ahead."
0:29:02 > 0:29:07And is about to meet Alan Hale, the son of Billy's half-sister, Vera,
0:29:07 > 0:29:10and their first heir.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13Hello there. Can I speak to Mr Alan Hale, please?
0:29:15 > 0:29:18Can you confirm who your mother was?
0:29:18 > 0:29:22Yes, Vera Josephine Hale
0:29:22 > 0:29:25- was her married name.- OK.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28- When was the last time you saw Billy?- Oh, I haven't seen Billy
0:29:28 > 0:29:32since, I think, not long after my father died.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35Crikey, I haven't seen him since I was a young man in Fulham.
0:29:37 > 0:29:39Billy's estrangement from his wider family
0:29:39 > 0:29:43means Alan's memories of his late uncle are limited at best.
0:29:43 > 0:29:48As an individual, I think he was quite a nice guy,
0:29:48 > 0:29:50even though he was fairly wild,
0:29:50 > 0:29:54but there are other sides of it that I would never have seen
0:29:54 > 0:29:58because of not being around as he grew older,
0:29:58 > 0:30:03which is quite sad, really. Unfortunately, that's how life works out sometimes.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08It went very well. He's a really nice guy.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11He was able to confirm a lot of the information we had on the tree.
0:30:11 > 0:30:16He signed an agreement with us and we can get things moving straight away.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20This is a fantastic result for the heir hunters,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23finding and signing their first heir.
0:30:23 > 0:30:28Over in Harlow, Bob's through the traffic and has made it to Billy's half brother's house,
0:30:28 > 0:30:30potentially their second heir.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35- Hello, Mr Simpson? - That's me.- Hello, I'm Bob Barratt from Fraser and Fraser.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41George Simpson is 84 years old and still gainfully employed.
0:30:41 > 0:30:46- The person that died we think is your half-blood. - That's right. That's Billy.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50- Right. William...- Brown.- Right.
0:30:50 > 0:30:55- I've not seen Billy for years. - Since... We're talking about the war years, are we?
0:30:55 > 0:30:58I never saw him since the 50s, I suppose it was.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04He's another family member who'd lost contact with Billy
0:31:04 > 0:31:07and hadn't seen him for decades.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11As Billy's heir, George is happy to sign with Frasers.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14- You want it there? - Yes, please.- In there?
0:31:14 > 0:31:20The family information George has been able to provide is of great help to the team in the office.
0:31:22 > 0:31:27Simon has now found heirs from Billy's half sister Colleen.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31We've now identified the death of Coleen in 1998.
0:31:31 > 0:31:36Tony sends Bob to visit and hopefully sign up the new-found heirs.
0:31:36 > 0:31:41- Two addresses for the children, both of which might interest you.- Right.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45Bob also passes useful information back to Tony
0:31:45 > 0:31:48concerning Billy's half-sister, Maureen, who is still alive.
0:31:48 > 0:31:54I've got a telephone number for the son of the half-sister of the deceased.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57And Simon's research has also come up trumps.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00He's found the final heirs of the day.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03They're descendents of Billy's brother, Herbert.
0:32:03 > 0:32:09We've now identified Herbie's marriage
0:32:09 > 0:32:12and the births of two of his children,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15and we've got addresses for two of them.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19At the end of a long day, Tony's frazzled but pleased.
0:32:19 > 0:32:24We do now know what happened to all the brothers and sisters. So it's a good finish to the day.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31In total, the team has found 16 heirs to Billy's estate
0:32:31 > 0:32:37and over the next few weeks, each one will learn how much they're going to inherit.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41The heir hunters will spend the next few months administrating the estate
0:32:41 > 0:32:44and collecting the necessary paperwork.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48But partner Neil Fraser is happy with Tony's work so far.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52It's certainly been a worthwhile day for him
0:32:52 > 0:32:58and he's signed up beneficiaries and solved a case, so that's got to be good news.
0:32:58 > 0:33:03Billy's estate has now been confirmed at just £5,000.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05OK.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11The heirs are unlikely to receive life-changing amounts of money
0:33:11 > 0:33:14and there will be very little commission for the heir hunters.
0:33:14 > 0:33:20But at least Billy's family now have a wealth of knowledge about the late William Brown.
0:33:25 > 0:33:32In 2009, Lord Teviot took on the £11,000 estate of Georgina Greenhouse.
0:33:32 > 0:33:38She'd died in a nursing home in 1998 aged 96 and left no will.
0:33:40 > 0:33:46Through Georgina's father Benjamin Greenhouse, Charles has found more than 30 heirs
0:33:46 > 0:33:51and one of them was Georgina's first cousin once removed, Millicent Perrot.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56I was so excited about learning more about my mother and father.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59Having lost both her parents young,
0:33:59 > 0:34:03Millicent knew little about the Greenhouse side of her family.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07My father worked in the quarries
0:34:07 > 0:34:09in the Clee Hills.
0:34:09 > 0:34:14I don't remember much of his work, cos I was very young.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18I know that they worked very, very hard.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21Millicent¹s father was a quarryman,
0:34:21 > 0:34:25which meant working long hours in incredibly tough conditions.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30The environment of working in a quarry in the Victorian period
0:34:30 > 0:34:32was really quite a harsh one.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34There was very little mechanised equipment,
0:34:34 > 0:34:38so muscle power was really what was needed
0:34:38 > 0:34:41and so it was very hard physical labour. The hours were long.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46It could be 14 hours that the quarrymen were away from home.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52Millicent was just six years old when her parents died
0:34:52 > 0:34:54so she and her older sister Janet
0:34:54 > 0:34:58were sent to live with their mother's sister Millie and her husband Joseph.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02By coincidence, Joseph was also a Greenhouse,
0:35:02 > 0:35:08but Charles believed he was an illegitimate member of the family and no relation to Georgina.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14Because they had no children of their own,
0:35:14 > 0:35:20I think they gave us all the love that they would give to their own children.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24So Janet and I were very, very lucky girls.
0:35:27 > 0:35:35Uncle Joe was... a caring, loving man.
0:35:36 > 0:35:41And he took a good place of my father.
0:35:42 > 0:35:47He was full of fun and he made us toys
0:35:47 > 0:35:51and took us out on horses
0:35:51 > 0:35:55and we were made to collect the eggs, Janet and I.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58Despite the tragic loss of her parents,
0:35:58 > 0:36:02Millicent and her sister had an idyllic childhood with their aunt and uncle.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05And even though she's moved away,
0:36:05 > 0:36:09Millicent still has a real fondness for the beautiful Clee Hills area.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15There's something about the Clee Hills that is magic.
0:36:15 > 0:36:21And, of all the years that I've been away,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24a little bit of me is still up there.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26Sorry.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37Sadly, Millicent's aunt died in 1948
0:36:37 > 0:36:43and as a lone widower, Joseph was no longer able to look after the girls.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45My brother was notified
0:36:45 > 0:36:48and my brother came out of the navy
0:36:48 > 0:36:52and he had friends in Ramsgate in Kent
0:36:52 > 0:36:56and we lived with them from then onwards.
0:36:57 > 0:37:04But Millicent's kindly uncle, Joseph Greenhouse, was about to give the heir hunters a real headache.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08Charles had ruled him out of the search because none of the records suggested
0:37:08 > 0:37:10he was a close relative of Georgina.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16My business partner in Australia actually emailed me
0:37:16 > 0:37:20that he'd found the Joseph who he thought was previously illegitimate.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23He then discovered he wasn't.
0:37:23 > 0:37:25He was a full brother of the deceased.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Charles couldn't believe it.
0:37:29 > 0:37:34Millicent's Uncle Joseph was actually the son of Georgina's father, Benjamin Greenhouse.
0:37:38 > 0:37:40As well as having two daughters,
0:37:40 > 0:37:44it now turned out Benjamin and Florence had had a son, Joseph,
0:37:44 > 0:37:46Georgina's full-blood brother.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50His descendants would now be the only heirs
0:37:50 > 0:37:54to Georgina's £11,000 estate.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57Well, it meant that all the first cousins were no longer entitled.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02Joseph's new position on the family tree
0:38:02 > 0:38:05also meant he was a closer relative to Millicent.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08Rather than being just an uncle by marriage,
0:38:08 > 0:38:14he was now her father's cousin, which made her his first cousin once removed.
0:38:14 > 0:38:21I was really surprised to find out that my Uncle Joe
0:38:21 > 0:38:26is also a cousin of my father.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30The startling revelation meant Charles now had to find out
0:38:30 > 0:38:32if Joseph had children of his own.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36He quickly learnt that after his first wife, Millie, had died,
0:38:36 > 0:38:40Joseph had remarried and had two daughters, Pauline and Josephine.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43Joseph's daughters were Georgina's nieces
0:38:43 > 0:38:48and they were now the only heirs to her £11,000 estate.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52But the news came as a complete surprise to Pauline and her sister.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55I've never heard of Georgina
0:38:55 > 0:38:59and I didn't even know she existed.
0:39:00 > 0:39:06Growing up, the girls had never once heard their father discuss his family background.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08They believed he was an only child.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12We just felt that pleased to think that there was someone else
0:39:12 > 0:39:18but also sad that we never got to know her
0:39:18 > 0:39:21and that Dad didn't know her.
0:39:21 > 0:39:26Josephine and Pauline will never know why their father was brought up by his extended family.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30But what they do know is that he spent his entire life
0:39:30 > 0:39:33wrongly believing he had no siblings.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36Charles now faced the awkward task
0:39:36 > 0:39:40of contacting the 30 people he had originally thought were heirs.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43It didn't really matter to me.
0:39:43 > 0:39:50I'm getting answers to all that I've wondered about over the years. It's wonderful.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52Thank you. Bye.
0:39:52 > 0:39:58Charles is philosophical about the case and glad they spotted the error.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02We didn't try and trace it because we thought he belonged to somebody else
0:40:02 > 0:40:06and didn't get his birth certificate. Pure and simple.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11One's fairly philosophical about these things. If it's egg on one's face, fair enough.
0:40:11 > 0:40:16But still, it's been found in time.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21With the hunt for heirs complete, Millicent has the opportunity
0:40:21 > 0:40:25to meet Joseph's daughters, Pauline and Josephine.
0:40:26 > 0:40:32She's hoping to finally find out what happened to Joseph after her Aunt Millie died.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34I think I've waited for this forever
0:40:34 > 0:40:37and it's happening, it's all happening now.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43Millicent has returned to Clee Hills, where she spent a very happy childhood.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51I lived here as a child, on this hilltop,
0:40:51 > 0:40:53and we had a lovely childhood here.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56It's a place she will never forget.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03I was born here and I've lived here
0:41:03 > 0:41:08and, yes, Clee Hill is in my heart.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13This will be the first time Millicent, Pauline and Josephine have ever met.
0:41:13 > 0:41:18It's an opportunity to share wonderful memories of a much-loved man.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20- Hello.- Hello.- Hello.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24Fancy meeting you! SHE LAUGHS
0:41:24 > 0:41:26Lovely to see you.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30Pauline and Josephine have brought along the family's photos.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32Was that Millicent?
0:41:33 > 0:41:39- Yes. But seeing her features... And she had polio. - That's what made me think.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41She had polio as a child.
0:41:41 > 0:41:46The photos have reminded Millicent what a warm and generous man Joseph was.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51- He'd always give you anything. - Janet and I were living with him
0:41:51 > 0:41:54and he said, "You mustn't go down the shed"
0:41:54 > 0:41:58and Jan and I said, "I wonder what he's got in the shed."
0:41:58 > 0:42:03Anyway, a couple of weeks later, he brought out two scooters that he'd made out of wood.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07- Oh.- He had a heart of gold. - That was it. He always thought about other people.- Yes.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12The search for heirs to Georgina Greenhouse's £11,000 estate
0:42:12 > 0:42:16has unravelled a complex family history.
0:42:16 > 0:42:21But it'¹s given Millicent the opportunity to meet family members she never knew she had.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25Having met Josie and Pauline today,
0:42:25 > 0:42:30erm, it seems like the end of a story book.
0:42:30 > 0:42:35Erm, my life, going through from the Clee Hills,
0:42:35 > 0:42:40from Uncle Joe, to meeting his daughters,
0:42:40 > 0:42:43and I shall return to the Clee Hills to see them
0:42:43 > 0:42:47as often as I can. I'm really pleased to have met them.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54If you would like advice about building your family tree
0:42:54 > 0:42:58or making a will, go to:
0:43:00 > 0:43:04Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:43:04 > 0:43:08E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
0:43:08 > 0:43:08.