0:00:02 > 0:00:05'Heir hunters specialise in tracking down people
0:00:05 > 0:00:08'who are entitled to money from someone who has died.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10'They hand over thousands of pounds
0:00:10 > 0:00:14'to relatives who have no idea they were in line to inherit.'
0:00:14 > 0:00:17He said one and a half million pounds had been left.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21'Their work involves painstaking investigation.'
0:00:21 > 0:00:24These kids could all be right, all be wrong or half and half.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27'But it can shed new light on the past.'
0:00:27 > 0:00:34Finding out all about Mary, someone in my family I didn't really know.
0:00:34 > 0:00:40'But most of all, the work is about giving people news of an unexpected windfall.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43'Could the heir hunters be knocking at your door?'
0:00:47 > 0:00:52'Coming up, heir hunters veer off course in the hunt for relatives...'
0:00:53 > 0:00:56And it's the wrong family!
0:00:56 > 0:01:01'..the Belfast woman who headed abroad and came back with a fortune...'
0:01:01 > 0:01:06Irish people did very well in the United States. There was a lot of upward social mobility.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08'..plus, how you could be entitled
0:01:08 > 0:01:11'to inherit money sat in unclaimed estates.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14'Could a fortune be heading your way?'
0:01:20 > 0:01:22'It's Friday morning in Liverpool.
0:01:22 > 0:01:28'Heir hunter Saul Marks is getting stuck into his second day on a new case.'
0:01:28 > 0:01:31This lady was called Mary Elizabeth Couzens.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33She was born in 1951 in London.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38As far as we're aware, she had no children and no siblings.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42'Saul is a case manager for Celtic Research,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46'which is run by father and son, Peter and Hector Birchwood.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51'They spotted Mary's case on the Bona Vacantia list of unclaimed estates,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54'which is released every Thursday.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57'As rival heir hunting firms could be working this case as well,
0:01:57 > 0:02:02'it's important that Saul acts fast to track down Mary's heirs.'
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Right, OK. That's the deceased's line sorted out.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10'He's already managed to make contact
0:02:10 > 0:02:14'with a number of people he thinks could be heirs to Mary's estate.
0:02:14 > 0:02:20'To confirm his research, Saul needs to get his hands on a vital document.'
0:02:20 > 0:02:22We're going to Southport in a few minutes.
0:02:22 > 0:02:28The purpose of going is to get the marriage certificate of the parents of the deceased.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31This is going to be very important for this case.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34If it's the right family, it's going to be a great relief,
0:02:34 > 0:02:38cos we won't have wasted our time yesterday tracing the wrong family.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43If it is the wrong family, we'll have to start again with a new Couzens family.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53'Mary Couzens died on 1 August 2011, in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56'She was just 59 years old.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59'Although she'd been poorly for some time,
0:02:59 > 0:03:03'the news still came as a shock to her friend, Jim Oram.'
0:03:03 > 0:03:08I thought she was not in a sort of life-threatening state.
0:03:09 > 0:03:17But I think she had a whole litany of things wrong with her, medically.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20I counted them up once. It was probably about 15.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25On top of that, she had diabetes and her body just gave up, really.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27Which was sad.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32'Because of her health problems, Mary spent the last few years
0:03:32 > 0:03:35'in sheltered accommodation in her home town of Watford.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40'According to support worker Agnes Connolly, she was a popular resident.'
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Mary was very fun-loving, bubbly, out-going.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47Quite happy to talk to just anyone, make anybody welcome.
0:03:47 > 0:03:53Didn't matter who was in the communion lounge, she was always the first one to say hello.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58'Mary was a very generous woman who loved to cook.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03'Every day, she'd spend time and money making an evening meal for a group of friends.'
0:04:03 > 0:04:08I think she did it because she used to say she didn't like being in here
0:04:08 > 0:04:12on her own at night cos it was lonely.
0:04:12 > 0:04:17And so she invited a group of us around,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20to give her a social life at night.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25She practised a very practical and radical form of Christianity...
0:04:26 > 0:04:30..in that she really helped others.
0:04:30 > 0:04:35For instance, someone here had his pocket picked,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37and she, um...
0:04:39 > 0:04:44..the next day, quietly passed him a brown envelope
0:04:44 > 0:04:48with replacement money in.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57'Mary died without making a will.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00'Because she had no children and no brothers or sisters to inherit,
0:05:00 > 0:05:05'heir hunter Saul must now look for aunts, uncles and cousins.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10'Mary's parents were Frederick Couzens and Mary Wells.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12'According to Saul's research,
0:05:12 > 0:05:17'Frederick's father, Mary's grandfather, was Ernest Couzens.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21'Saul has identified seven brothers and sisters for Frederick,
0:05:21 > 0:05:25'and has even spoken to some of their children and grandchildren.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27'He believes that they are Mary's cousins
0:05:27 > 0:05:29'and potential heirs to her estate.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35'But before he can go any further, he needs documentary proof.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37'So he's on his way to Southport Register Office
0:05:37 > 0:05:41'to pick up a copy of Mary's parents' marriage certificate.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45'This entire job hangs on whether the information he finds in it
0:05:45 > 0:05:48'matches the research he's done so far.'
0:05:48 > 0:05:52What we're looking for is it to prove
0:05:52 > 0:05:57that the work we've done on the paternal side of the family is the right family.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01The key to this is that the groom's father's name is Ernest.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05If it's Ernest, we can all breathe a sigh of relief,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08and we know we've got the right family.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13If it's not Ernest, then we have to go back to the drawing board.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18'The certificate will also tell Saul the age of Mary's mother
0:06:18 > 0:06:20'and the name of her father,
0:06:20 > 0:06:25'so he can start to open up the maternal side of the family.'
0:06:25 > 0:06:29We've arrived at the general registry office in Southport.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32It's 10.04, which is almost exactly the time they open.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37We're going to get the certificate and hope it says what we want it to say.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44'As the company works for a pre-agreed percentage of the estate,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47'they will only get paid if Saul signs up heirs.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50'Because the value of the estates isn't published on the unclaimed list,
0:06:50 > 0:06:53'he doesn't know at this point whether the work he's putting in
0:06:53 > 0:06:56'will turn out to be worthwhile.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00'He's already gambled a full day's research on this case,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03'and he's about to find out if it's paid off.'
0:07:08 > 0:07:10OK, great service, as always.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14One certificate.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Right, let's see what this says.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23This is what it's all about.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27And it's the wrong family.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36Frederick Couzens, 52 years old, bachelor.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40Father's name, William Couzens, deceased brickmaker.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43SIGHS
0:07:43 > 0:07:46'The news comes as a blow.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49'The Frederick Couzens on whom Saul has based his tree
0:07:49 > 0:07:51'is not Mary's father.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54'A whole day's work will have to be scrapped.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57'With the competition likely to be circling,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00'it's time Saul can ill afford to waste.'
0:08:00 > 0:08:04With great regret, I'll have to go back to the people I spoke to
0:08:04 > 0:08:07and say, "This is the wrong family. We're awfully sorry."
0:08:07 > 0:08:11And we're going to have to start again on the paternal side.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15'It's back to the office and back to the drawing board.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18'But it's not ALL bad news for Saul.'
0:08:19 > 0:08:21The second role of that certificate
0:08:21 > 0:08:26was to allow us to open up the maternal side, which it has done.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28It might be all to play for yet today.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31We might have exciting times in the office when I get back.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35'From the marriage certificate he's just collected,
0:08:35 > 0:08:39'Saul has established that Mary's mother was Mary Emily Wells,
0:08:39 > 0:08:43'and was 40 years old when she married in 1951.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45'Her father, Mary's grandfather,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49'was a master greengrocer named William James Wells.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52'Back in the office, Saul is using this new information
0:08:52 > 0:08:57'to try to build up the maternal side of the family tree.'
0:08:57 > 0:09:02She would have died under the name Mary Emily Couzens.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05So we're going to look for her death...
0:09:09 > 0:09:11..and see what we can find.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16'Since 1969, death records in England and Wales
0:09:16 > 0:09:18'have included a date and place of birth.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22'They're invaluable documents for heir hunters.'
0:09:22 > 0:09:24Born 9 November 1910,
0:09:24 > 0:09:28which is great cos she was born before the 1911 census.
0:09:28 > 0:09:33So we can look her up and find her as a child with her family.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38'By studying census records from 1911 and 1901,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42'Saul is able to establish that Mary's mother, Mary Emily Wells,
0:09:42 > 0:09:44'had five brothers and sisters,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47'four of whom survived into adulthood.'
0:09:47 > 0:09:49We've got Henry William,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52Ellen Elizabeth, Dorothy and Frederick,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55and they are the aunts and uncles of the deceased
0:09:55 > 0:09:57on the maternal side.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02So now we're going to look for their marriages and children.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06'Keen to make up lost time after his initial mistake,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09'Saul starts trawling through marriage and birth records,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12'in the hope of finding Mary's first cousins.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14'But it's not his lucky day.'
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Well, this is now becoming very frustrating.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22The eldest brother looks like he died without issue.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25So that line's dead.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Ellen, otherwise Nellie, Wells later Hall,
0:10:29 > 0:10:32has at least one son, who is dead.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34His wife is dead.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38They may have had a daughter. Not sure what happened to her.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41The aunt of the deceased, Dorothy, probably Dorothy Bailey,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44has one son with a very unusual name,
0:10:44 > 0:10:48who died without leaving any issue, so his line's dead.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53What we're left with is plain Frederick Wells, of which there are millions!
0:10:53 > 0:10:55Very, very frustrating.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57I want me lunch.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02'Faced with a brick wall on Mary's mother's side,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05'Saul starts again with her father's side of the family.'
0:11:05 > 0:11:09I'm hoping that this is going to be a bit more fruitful,
0:11:09 > 0:11:14have some nice unusual names, perhaps, and see where we get to.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20'The road to Mary's heirs has, so far, been strewn with obstacles.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26'With time ticking on, this could be Saul's last chance to get to them before the competition.'
0:11:27 > 0:11:29Hello? Oh.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31I think he's hung up.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41'In 2009, work began on the case of a lady called Elizabeth Malhotra,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43'who died at a care home in London.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47'Although she led a modest and intensely private life,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50'Elizabeth turned out to be worth a fortune.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55'Because she didn't leave a will, her name appeared on the Bona Vacantia list,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59'where the case was picked up by heir hunting team Fraser & Fraser.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03'Senior case manager David Milchard was at the helm.'
0:12:03 > 0:12:08The case came with a list of other cases and we just run through each one,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11try to identify whether there's any possibility of value.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16It indicated that she and her husband owned the house she lived in.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20If there's property, it's reasonable to assume there's going to be some value.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24So that's why we looked into it.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31'Elizabeth Malhotra passed away on 22 October 2009.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33'She was 89 years old.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38'Sister Margaret Coyne provided her with care and companionship
0:12:38 > 0:12:41'for the last four years of her life.'
0:12:41 > 0:12:44In the mornings, I got her up, gave her personal care,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47prepared her breakfast, prompted her medication.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51Generally made her comfortable and spoke to her.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54In the beginning, she was wary of me going in.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59But as she saw I was harmless and just there to help her,
0:12:59 > 0:13:04she was more open and responded - really more trusting.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07'Elizabeth was a quiet and secretive lady,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11'but over time, she revealed her love of music.'
0:13:12 > 0:13:17I bought her a cassette player, gave it to her and she really loved it.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20She liked hymns and old songs,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23so I picked up any I could and made copies of them.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28'Elizabeth's husband Mohan died 20 months before her.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31'The loss hit her hard.'
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Sometimes she told me that during the night she was speaking to Mohan.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38She used to say he'd appear to her at night to talk to her.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41I think her whole life revolved round Mohan.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43'Elizabeth didn't have many possessions
0:13:43 > 0:13:46'and lived a very simple life.'
0:13:46 > 0:13:49I always was of the opinion that she was poor.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51I'd say she had enough to go and buy it now,
0:13:51 > 0:13:56but I really felt that she didn't have much money or any riches.
0:13:56 > 0:14:02'Elizabeth's frugality belied the fact that she owned a home in London's Belgravia,
0:14:02 > 0:14:04'one of the wealthiest districts in the world.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08'It was an indication for case manager David Milchard
0:14:08 > 0:14:11'that her estate was likely to be of high value.'
0:14:11 > 0:14:17We thought originally the estate would be minimum of about 300,000,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21primarily based on what we thought the value of the property was.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25'The team were working for a percentage of the estate,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28'so when the true value was eventually revealed,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31'they were in for a very pleasant surprise.'
0:14:31 > 0:14:35The value we were given by the Treasury solicitor
0:14:35 > 0:14:39when we got the claim through was £1.7 million.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41Which is very good!
0:14:42 > 0:14:47'An estate this large would attract a lot of competition from rival heir hunting firms,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50'so it was crucial that the team acted fast.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54'Straight away, David dispatched a researcher to Elizabeth's address,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58'in the hope of finding out more about her from neighbours.'
0:14:58 > 0:15:02We basically learned that the deceased and her husband
0:15:02 > 0:15:05hadn't lived in England for very long.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10Prior to coming here, they spent most of their time in America.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15'Having established that Elizabeth didn't have children,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18'the next step was to get hold of a death certificate,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22'which would provide the company with more vital clues.'
0:15:22 > 0:15:26It told us her date and place of birth, which was in Belfast.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31It also told us that her maiden name was Grogan,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34and that she was a widow of Mr Malhotra,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38who was described as an airline executive.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44'To find out the names of her parents, the team needed Elizabeth's birth certificate.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49'They concentrated their efforts in Northern Ireland, but progress was slow.'
0:15:49 > 0:15:53A tricky thing with Northern Ireland records, as opposed to England,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57is that you can't do a lot of work on spec.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00You've got to apply, in most cases, for the certificates
0:16:00 > 0:16:03to know you're going in the right direction.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08'It took several days for the birth certificate to reach David.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10'It was a tense wait.'
0:16:11 > 0:16:15Because it was taking a bit of time to get the research sorted out,
0:16:15 > 0:16:21at the back of my mind there was always a worry that some other company was also looking at it.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26Biggest fear was that there would be a local company in Belfast on the case.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30They're on the ground. They've got local knowledge.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34'Once the certificate finally arrived,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37'the team could start to build Elizabeth's family tree.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42'Her parents, James Grogan and Annie McKnight, married in 1906.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45'Records show that they had four other children...'
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Once we established the names of the brothers,
0:16:53 > 0:16:57we then searched to see what happened to them.
0:16:57 > 0:17:03We eventually found that they died without any children.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07'With no nieces or nephews to inherit her fortune,
0:17:07 > 0:17:12'the search was on for Elizabeth's aunts, uncles and cousins.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16'But even in her home town,
0:17:16 > 0:17:20'information about Elizabeth was hard to come by.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26'Death records show that both her parents passed away when she was a young girl.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29'It's thought that Elizabeth may have lived with relatives,
0:17:29 > 0:17:34'but after about 1950, there is no trace of her in Northern Ireland.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38'As her neighbour told the team she'd lived in America,
0:17:38 > 0:17:42'it seems likely she'd become one of the millions of Irish nationals
0:17:42 > 0:17:46'to emigrate there in search of a better life.'
0:17:46 > 0:17:51Migration's been a feature of Irish society for hundreds of years.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54People would be familiar with the large 19th-century migration,
0:17:54 > 0:17:57particularly after the famine in the 1840s.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01Actually, up until the 1950s and indeed until the 1980s,
0:18:01 > 0:18:04there was large-scale migration out of Ireland.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10'Census data shows that between 1951 and 1961,
0:18:10 > 0:18:12'half a million people left Ireland.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16'That's one-seventh of the entire population.'
0:18:16 > 0:18:18Migration is a complex process.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22The reasons why people migrate are varied.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24The main one would be economic.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27People are moving for jobs, for different opportunities
0:18:27 > 0:18:29and lifestyles for them and their families.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32There are also social reasons why people might migrate.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36If we think about what Irish society was like in the 1950s.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40It was very conservative, a very religiously traditional society.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44For young people there was perhaps the opportunity to move elsewhere,
0:18:44 > 0:18:48where they could have more freedom, a better lifestyle,
0:18:48 > 0:18:53maybe a sense of adventure as well, informing their migration choices.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57'Most of these migrants went to Britain,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00'where postwar reconstruction meant work was plentiful.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03'But many, like Elizabeth Grogan, headed west.'
0:19:05 > 0:19:08America in the 1950s was booming.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12In Irish culture, there's this figure, the "return Yank".
0:19:12 > 0:19:15This is somebody who's lived in America, an Irish migrant,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18who's done well, come back on holiday.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21They're usually seen as very glamorous, very exciting characters.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24They would have this strange language, this vocabulary,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28talking about refrigerators and vacuum cleaners,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32really typifying the consumer boom of 1950s America.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35For a lot of young people, this sold them an image
0:19:35 > 0:19:39of an American lifestyle that they wanted to emulate.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43'It's not known where in America Elizabeth Grogan went,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46'or what she did when she first got there.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50'But as she was worth £1.7 million by the time she died,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54'it seems likely that America was kind to her.'
0:19:54 > 0:19:58In general, Irish people did very well in the United States.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01There was a lot of upwards social mobility,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04so that within a generation,
0:20:04 > 0:20:09Irish families had progressed enormously and gone from working class to middle class.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14'As the search for Elizabeth's missing relatives continues,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19'a picture continues to emerge of her exciting American lifestyle.'
0:20:19 > 0:20:24The wife of a dispatcher would have enjoyed a certain...
0:20:24 > 0:20:28feeling of opportunity, glamour if you like.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35'Heir hunters use specialist skills
0:20:35 > 0:20:39'to track down thousands of rightful beneficiaries every year.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41'But not all cases can be cracked
0:20:41 > 0:20:45'and there are thousands of estates that remain unclaimed.'
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Cases will stay on the unclaimed list for 12 years
0:20:50 > 0:20:54from the date that the administration has been completed.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59That's the period of time that people still can come forward and claim the estate.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02'Today, we're focusing on two cases
0:21:02 > 0:21:04'that have so far eluded the heir hunters.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09'Could you be the beneficiary they've been looking for?
0:21:16 > 0:21:19'Heir hunters have struggled to find out any more information
0:21:19 > 0:21:22'about Janet or her family.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24'Could you be related to Janet?
0:21:24 > 0:21:28'Could you be in line to inherit a share of her estate?
0:21:40 > 0:21:42'As he died in Scotland, his case was published
0:21:42 > 0:21:45'by the Queen and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer,
0:21:45 > 0:21:47'and was valued at £9,000.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53'Did you know Charles? Could you be due a share of his £9,000 legacy?
0:21:56 > 0:21:58'Here are those names once again.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04'If you're one of their long-lost relatives,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07'you could have a windfall coming your way.'
0:22:13 > 0:22:16'Friday afternoon in Liverpool and Saul Marks
0:22:16 > 0:22:18'of heir hunting firm Celtic Research
0:22:18 > 0:22:23'is searching for relatives of a Watford woman called Mary Couzens.'
0:22:23 > 0:22:25Oh, dear!
0:22:25 > 0:22:28'So far, it's been a bumpy ride.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30'A mistake in tracing Mary's father's family
0:22:30 > 0:22:33'has cost Saul a whole day's work.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37'And research on her mother's side has come to a grinding halt.
0:22:37 > 0:22:42'But on the paternal side, things are looking more promising.'
0:22:42 > 0:22:45We established that the deceased's father, Frederick Couzens,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48was the fourth of eight children.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51We've got two aunts on this family, who each married gentlemen
0:22:51 > 0:22:54with very unusual names and failed to have children.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58So we are making progress and things are a lot better than they were.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02'Mary Couzens was an only child
0:23:02 > 0:23:05'who spent her younger years caring for her parents,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07'who both suffered from ill health.'
0:23:07 > 0:23:13She lived with her mother and father up in Bushey
0:23:13 > 0:23:15for most of her early life.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Well into her 30s and 40s, I think.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22Her father was invalided out of the war.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25She looked after him and her mother.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30'Mary had green fingers and took charge of the shared garden
0:23:30 > 0:23:33'in the sheltered accommodation where she lived.'
0:23:33 > 0:23:37If she could ever get the chance of anyone taking her out in the car
0:23:37 > 0:23:41she would buttonhole them to take her to a garden centre.
0:23:41 > 0:23:47She would spend loads and loads of money on buying plants.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52Mary's routine, especially in the summer, was gardening.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56You can look in the garden and all the shrubs, pots, belong to Mary.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01She spent hours and hours, lots of money out there.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05So it's all hers. That's definitely her legacy.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07It's good to remember her.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12Cos I didn't know that... I'd feel so...
0:24:12 > 0:24:14emotive about it.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18But she brought a lot of life to this place
0:24:18 > 0:24:21and...it's gone.
0:24:24 > 0:24:29'In the office, heir hunter Saul is looking for Mary's aunts and uncles.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33'Their living descendents would be beneficiaries to her estate.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37'A search of census, marriage and birth records
0:24:37 > 0:24:39'revealed that Mary's father Frederick
0:24:39 > 0:24:41'was the fourth of eight children.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45'The eldest, William, died at an unusually early age.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52'When the First World War broke out in the summer of 1914,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56'the British army consisted of just 200,000 men -
0:24:56 > 0:25:02'tiny in comparison to the military power of other European nations.'
0:25:02 > 0:25:05Virtually every other country had conscription.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07On day one of the First World War,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10the Germans, the French could put millions of men into the field.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13It certainly wasn't equal, by any means.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16'Both the British public and the government
0:25:16 > 0:25:19'were at this point opposed to conscription.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21'In order to swell the army's numbers,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24'the Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener,
0:25:24 > 0:25:28'had to launch a hard-hitting recruitment campaign.'
0:25:28 > 0:25:31Kitchener's campaign is hugely successful.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33He asked for 100,000 volunteers.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37In no time at all, over a million men turn up.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41'Mary Couzens' uncle William was one of them.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44'A baker by trade, he gave up his job
0:25:44 > 0:25:48'to join the Queen's West Surrey Regiment in September 1914.'
0:25:48 > 0:25:52A lot of it was not so much about patriotism, King and country.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55A lot of people saw it as a massive adventure,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58the chance to have new clothes, new boots on your feet,
0:25:58 > 0:26:03be properly fed and to have exercise and fresh air -
0:26:03 > 0:26:05and go on a great European adventure.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08That was quite a draw to a lot of people.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12'Most Kitchener volunteers had at least six months' training
0:26:12 > 0:26:15'before they were sent to fight in France.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19'Service records show that William went to the front in December 1914,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22'just three months after he joined up.'
0:26:22 > 0:26:25They must have seen good soldier material in him.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29The regular battalions who'd been out since the beginning
0:26:29 > 0:26:31had taken a real battering.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33They needed to make up the numbers,
0:26:33 > 0:26:36so William's amongst the Kitchener men
0:26:36 > 0:26:39who are sent to a regular battalion to make the numbers up.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44'Sadly, William's career as a soldier was not to last for long.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48'In May 1915, he lost his life at the Battle of Festubert
0:26:48 > 0:26:50'in northern France.'
0:26:50 > 0:26:54Festubert's a follow-on from the Battle of Aubers Ridge,
0:26:54 > 0:26:58which had been a complete disaster, no ground gained whatsoever.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02At about quarter to four in the morning they come under
0:27:02 > 0:27:06very heavy German machine gun fire, then heavy artillery barrage.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10It's pretty likely that's the point William Couzens is killed in action.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14'Just 23 years old when he passed away,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18'Mary's uncle William never married, nor had children.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22'So his stem is a dead end for Saul.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27'But he's made a breakthrough with one of her father's other siblings.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30'He's learned that Frank had two children who, if still alive,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33'would be Mary's first cousins.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36'Saul has found a number for one of them.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41'He's hoping he's about to speak to his first heir on this tricky case.'
0:27:41 > 0:27:43We're working a case today
0:27:43 > 0:27:48that we think may relate to your cousin, Mary Couzens.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51Does that sound familiar to you at all?
0:27:51 > 0:27:55'It's good news. Saul has found his first heir.'
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Mary has died, sadly, and she didn't leave a will.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03So you would be one of the heirs because you're one of the cousins.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08You'd be entitled to a portion of what she had.
0:28:09 > 0:28:14'But just when he thinks his luck's about to change, another upset.'
0:28:14 > 0:28:17No, no. Who was that from?
0:28:17 > 0:28:20'A rival heir hunting firm has beaten Saul to it.'
0:28:20 > 0:28:23Is that right?
0:28:23 > 0:28:24Hello?
0:28:24 > 0:28:26Oh. I think he's hung up.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31'The initial wrong turn in tracing Mary's father's family
0:28:31 > 0:28:34'means he's now playing catch-up.'
0:28:34 > 0:28:36He's invited me to send him stuff,
0:28:36 > 0:28:40but I don't know who we're facing competition-wise
0:28:40 > 0:28:42and what they might have offered him.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46'As the afternoon rumbles on and he contacts more heirs,
0:28:46 > 0:28:50'Saul finds he's constantly one step behind the competition.'
0:28:52 > 0:28:54It wouldn't surprise me.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56There's quite a few companies who do this work.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59'Undeterred, Saul battles on.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03'It's vital he tries to sign up as many heirs as possible,
0:29:03 > 0:29:08'to cover his company's costs and, hopefully, make a small profit.
0:29:08 > 0:29:13'Just before four o'clock, he gets the break he's been hoping for -
0:29:13 > 0:29:17'an heir who hasn't yet been contacted by the competition.'
0:29:17 > 0:29:19..You heard from us first.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22Any questions you've got, feel free to give me a ring.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26'Mary's father had four sisters.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30'One of them, Harriet, had a son called Roy, Mary's first cousin.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32'Roy has now passed away,
0:29:32 > 0:29:36'so his son Tim will be in line to inherit.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39'The news has come as a big surprise.'
0:29:40 > 0:29:42Finding out all about Mary,
0:29:42 > 0:29:46someone in my family I didn't really know.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50'Tim is Mary's first cousin once removed,
0:29:50 > 0:29:53'but can't remember ever meeting her.'
0:29:53 > 0:29:56Finding out that Mary died...
0:29:57 > 0:30:01It's a surreal feeling when you don't know somebody
0:30:01 > 0:30:05but they're part of your family and they've passed away.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09'Tim doesn't yet know how much money he's in line to inherit,
0:30:09 > 0:30:14'but whatever there is will be put to good use.'
0:30:14 > 0:30:16If there's some inheritance,
0:30:16 > 0:30:21I've got two daughters who'd like to be getting married in the next couple of years.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24Something will be going towards that.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26It'll be a good party.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30'In the office, things are looking up for Saul.'
0:30:30 > 0:30:33That's a relief to speak to someone
0:30:33 > 0:30:37who hasn't been contacted by the competition on this case.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42Furthermore, Timothy, because the way the family has panned out,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45he would get one whole branch of this.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50If the others sign with the other company and we get just Timothy,
0:30:50 > 0:30:54we'll have one branch at least - hoping for a bit more, though.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59'One more phone call - to the granddaughter of Mary's aunt Ellen -
0:30:59 > 0:31:03'lifts Saul's spirits further.'
0:31:03 > 0:31:07She was really pleased that I explained exactly what the situation was,
0:31:07 > 0:31:12who it was who had died and the general situation from here.
0:31:12 > 0:31:18She's very happy to receive a contract from us, so I'm going to send her one.
0:31:18 > 0:31:23'By the end of the day, Saul has identified nine heirs on Mary's father's side
0:31:23 > 0:31:26'and has managed to speak to most of them.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31'Even though in some cases the competition got there before him,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34'he's going to send out contracts to all of them,
0:31:34 > 0:31:37'in the hope that they choose to sign with him.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41'It's now a race against time to catch the last post.'
0:31:41 > 0:31:45After a pretty rocky start, having had the marriage certificate
0:31:45 > 0:31:48prove to us that we'd traced the wrong family yesterday,
0:31:48 > 0:31:50we've rectified it today.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54We've contacted a load of paternal heirs
0:31:54 > 0:31:58and we're just on the way to post the contracts.
0:31:58 > 0:32:03Always a bit tight. Always get there at the last minute.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06But they always seem to get there.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10Someone upstairs likes us and looks out for us.
0:32:20 > 0:32:25'A few weeks later, having found out her estate is worth around £11,000,
0:32:25 > 0:32:30'Saul is able to bring the tricky case of Mary Couzens to a close.'
0:32:30 > 0:32:33In total, there are ten heirs on the paternal side.
0:32:33 > 0:32:37We've not signed everybody but we've signed quite a few of them.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41We're fairly happy that we will at least cover our costs on this case.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45There's a number of people who are very happy for us to represent them,
0:32:45 > 0:32:50particularly to represent them, despite competition from other companies.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54They've chosen us over others, so that's a relief.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57It's welcome and we can move forward from there.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05'In London, the team at heir hunting firm Fraser & Fraser
0:33:05 > 0:33:12'were trying to track down beneficiaries to the £1.7 million estate of Elizabeth Malhotra.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14'David Milchard was the case manager.'
0:33:15 > 0:33:18It was quite a long haul, initially,
0:33:18 > 0:33:23because we got a delay in getting into the family.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25Once we got into the family,
0:33:25 > 0:33:28it was fits and starts, really.
0:33:28 > 0:33:33It took a lot longer than you would normally expect to take on a case.
0:33:33 > 0:33:38'An estate this large would almost certainly attract the attention of rival firms,
0:33:38 > 0:33:43'so it was time David's team could ill-afford to waste.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49'Elizabeth Malhotra was a very religious lady.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51'When she grew frail in her final years,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54'it was the Church that came to her aid.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58'Sister Margaret Coyne was her carer for four years.'
0:33:58 > 0:34:00I've fond memories of Elizabeth.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02I actually liked going in there,
0:34:02 > 0:34:07because she had a dry sense of humour...
0:34:07 > 0:34:10and she was happy.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14I felt she was pleased to see me and I was pleased to see her.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16I must say, I was sad when she departed.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19'Elizabeth was also very private.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24'When it came to talking about her past, she refused to open up.'
0:34:25 > 0:34:29Most, at the end, will speak something about their past,
0:34:29 > 0:34:32but Elizabeth never would.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34She just seemed to have cut off completely.
0:34:34 > 0:34:39I knew she was born in Belfast, went to America and married Mohan.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41Beyond that, I knew nothing about her.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46If she didn't want to speak about it, nothing would convince her to do so.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48She was a determined lady.
0:34:50 > 0:34:56'Having established that Elizabeth had no siblings, nieces or nephews to inherit her fortune,
0:34:56 > 0:34:59'the team set about looking for aunts and uncles.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01'If they had living descendents,
0:35:01 > 0:35:05'they would be heirs to her £1.7 million estate.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11'The first step was to establish whether Elizabeth's father, James Grogan,
0:35:11 > 0:35:15'and her mother, Annie McKnight, had any brothers or sisters.
0:35:15 > 0:35:20'It was no mean feat for case manager David Milchard.'
0:35:20 > 0:35:24When you're looking at the family names McKnight and Grogan,
0:35:24 > 0:35:27they're quite common in Northern Ireland.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31So it didn't make our research very easy at all.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34'Census records showed that Elizabeth's father
0:35:34 > 0:35:36'had eight brothers and sisters.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39'Four went on to have families of their own.
0:35:39 > 0:35:44'These would be Elizabeth's first cousins and heirs to her estate.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46'But when the company contacted one of them,
0:35:46 > 0:35:52'they found that the delays in obtaining birth, marriage and death certificates had cost them dear.'
0:35:52 > 0:35:58We discovered that the competition had, in fact, been working that side.
0:35:58 > 0:36:03We subsequently learned that the prime reason they did better than us
0:36:03 > 0:36:09was that one of our competitors' staff actually knew the family.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13We still got several of the heirs signed up.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15Unfortunately, we didn't get the whole lot.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20'There was better news when it came to Elizabeth's mother's side.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23'She also had eight brothers and sisters,
0:36:23 > 0:36:25'four of whom had children.'
0:36:26 > 0:36:30We were able to trace all of that family.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33Some quite easily, some with more difficulty.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35At the end of the day,
0:36:35 > 0:36:40we managed to sign every member of that side of the family up.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43'It was a good result for David, not to mention the heirs -
0:36:43 > 0:36:47'like Elizabeth's first cousin once removed, Geraldine,
0:36:47 > 0:36:50'who found out she was entitled to share in a fortune.'
0:36:50 > 0:36:54I got the phone call and, er...
0:36:54 > 0:36:56I couldn't believe it.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59He said there's one and a half million pounds had been left.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03I didn't know I had anyone who had that kind of money.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07I'm really looking forward to finding out more about her.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10I think she must have been a fascinating woman.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14She obviously made a lot of money somewhere, cos there's money.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18It would be lovely to find out more.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23'Elizabeth left Belfast for America in the early 1950s.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26'It's thought she eventually went to work for an airline
0:37:26 > 0:37:30'and that's where she met her husband, Mohan Malhotra.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36'Born in Pakistan, Mohan had come to America to work for TWA
0:37:36 > 0:37:40'which, back then, was one of the country's biggest airlines.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44'It was an exciting time to be in civil aviation,
0:37:44 > 0:37:47'the beginnings of the glamorous world of transatlantic travel,
0:37:47 > 0:37:51'when flying was still seen as the height of sophistication.'
0:37:52 > 0:37:56Aviation was not just going from A to B.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58It was the experience of travel. People enjoyed it.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02The first class meal service was second to none.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04We offered champagne, the best,
0:38:04 > 0:38:08offered wines by name, served caviar.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12And we had a trolley with roast beef.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14You didn't fly as high or as fast,
0:38:14 > 0:38:19but you could look out the window and see places you were flying over.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21Today, you can't see anything except cloud.
0:38:21 > 0:38:26Then, it was so exciting to watch the land moving slowly under you
0:38:26 > 0:38:29and you could see the places you were flying over.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34'Mohan Malhotra worked in Flight Operations as a dispatcher,
0:38:34 > 0:38:38'a job which carried a huge responsibility.'
0:38:38 > 0:38:44The job of a flight dispatcher was to operate the aircraft as safely as possible,
0:38:44 > 0:38:49producing a flight plan that calculated the fuel required correctly,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53to plan its track and the altitudes it was going to fly at,
0:38:53 > 0:38:55when it was going to climb and descend.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59He had to analyse all the data that he got from the Met Office,
0:38:59 > 0:39:02and he'd brief the captain on all of this.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05The role of Operations should not be underestimated.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10Without that, no aircraft could go safely from its origin to its destination.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14'As an important employee of one of the world's biggest airlines,
0:39:14 > 0:39:18'Mohan and perhaps his wife Elizabeth would have enjoyed a certain status.'
0:39:18 > 0:39:24In the '60s, people who worked for an airline were seen as fortunate.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28It was an exciting time and a glamorous time, if you like.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30I think the wife of a dispatcher -
0:39:30 > 0:39:35whose job mustn't be underestimated, it was a very important role -
0:39:35 > 0:39:42would have enjoyed a certain feeling of opportunity, glamour if you like.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45She obviously travelled with him on their holidays
0:39:45 > 0:39:48on their reduced rate tickets.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52I would say, yes, she may have been the envy of her friends as well.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56'Mohan is thought to have worked for TWA in the United States
0:39:56 > 0:39:58'for more than 25 years
0:39:58 > 0:40:03'before he and Elizabeth came to live in London in the mid 1990s.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05'But many details of their lives,
0:40:05 > 0:40:09'including how they came to accrue a £1.7 million fortune,
0:40:09 > 0:40:11'remain a mystery.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15'It's left heir Geraldine with some unanswered questions.'
0:40:15 > 0:40:20I wonder what her motives might have been for going to America.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23She was incredibly brave, I would have thought,
0:40:23 > 0:40:27not only going to America, meeting someone from another country,
0:40:27 > 0:40:31from Pakistan, no less, getting married.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33I often wonder is that possibly why
0:40:33 > 0:40:36no-one ever heard from her again in Ireland.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39Maybe she thought that wouldn't have been acceptable here.
0:40:41 > 0:40:46'But finding out she's an heir has given Geraldine a golden opportunity
0:40:46 > 0:40:49'to find out more about her other relatives.'
0:40:49 > 0:40:53One of the great benefits of finding out all about this
0:40:53 > 0:40:57is finding out that we do have all this family.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01There's some in Canada. I believe there's some in America.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05There's people here in Belfast, for goodness' sake, I didn't even know existed.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08I'm ever hopeful that at the end,
0:41:08 > 0:41:13when everything is settled and we hear what's happening,
0:41:13 > 0:41:17that maybe we could all... get together? You never know.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20And we'll raise a toast to Elizabeth and thank her very much.
0:41:20 > 0:41:25For not only the money but for letting us get to know each other.
0:41:27 > 0:41:32'Elizabeth's £1.7 million estate will be divided between 81 heirs,
0:41:32 > 0:41:36'but the company didn't manage to sign up all of them.'
0:41:36 > 0:41:39We've signed about 53, 54.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43So we've signed the majority of the heirs.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47Having said that, it doesn't mean we get the majority of the fees,
0:41:47 > 0:41:51because it depends on the degree of relationship
0:41:51 > 0:41:57and how many people are in each individual part of the family.
0:41:58 > 0:42:04'The sheer number of heirs means Geraldine's share of the estate is unlikely to be a fortune.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08'Whatever she gets, for her, it's a welcome bonus.'
0:42:08 > 0:42:13Emigration has always been a big thing for the Irish.
0:42:13 > 0:42:18Loads of people went to America. Seems to have been their first port of call.
0:42:18 > 0:42:24And what they did when the people went away, they used to look after their families at home.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27There was an expression when we were growing up,
0:42:27 > 0:42:31if you got money, a windfall of some description,
0:42:31 > 0:42:33"Ah! It's money from America!"
0:42:33 > 0:42:37It's so funny now that this lady who lived in America
0:42:37 > 0:42:41has brought all of this money back and now it's come to us.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43It's, yet again, money from America.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49'If you would like advice
0:42:49 > 0:42:55'about building a family tree or making a will, go to:'
0:43:06 > 0:43:09Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:43:09 > 0:43:12E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk