Advice Needed With Administrators

I am sorry I keep asking advice but I need help with a case...

The case has 3 heirs a brother and sister and a cousin who were all niece and nephews of the deceased.
I signed the brother and sister, the cousin put a counter claim in to the treasury and was awarded the administration.

He is ignoring all my communication so far and to confuse matters he is living in Spain.

As we do not know the value of the estate my clients do not know whether it is worth getting solicitors involved.
Can we find out the value by any other way?

Shirl,

I had a similar thing recently and I put in a FOI request which was initially turned down so I put in for a review which after contacting the administrators they then gave me the value. Its not great but its better that nothing.
The thing is technically he doesn't have to contact you because his duty is to pay the other 2 people their shares. You then have the problem of getting your commission from them. I would suggest a solicitors letter but obviously this is another expense that you are unlikely to recover.

Rob

Thank you for that Rob, I do appreciate that he does not have to deal with me but the fact that the letter I wrote him is still sitting in their post office waiting to be collected after 2 weeks makes me think he is at it.

I know the other heirs have not heard from him as one called me on Sunday evening asking how it was going...

Shirl,

Short of flying out there I dont think there is much more you can do. Of course you could go down the route of involving solicitors

Rob

I think a wee trip to Spain sounds fine

On a serious note I have already spoken to the client about that possibility, that is why I would like to find out the value for them to see if it is in their interest or not.

Shir...

Of course we do not know what the circumstances are in this case. It may just be a case that he is doing what any Professional Heir Hunter should be doing and that is ensuring that all possible heirs have been located before dividing any sums with his cousins. It is surprising just how often a closer relative or half blood pops up when dealing with cousins.

If he was a professional and dealing with cousins rather than closer relatives then I would NOT expect him to be paying out to his clients in less than three months after the TSOL sent out a cheque maybe closer to six.

So in this case I would suggest that you have to sit back, and see what unfolds because at this stage he has not committed any offence so one must be careful what you says to him. It could be Easter before you can take this forward further if no money has been distributed by then to the heirs.

Maybe at the end of the day he may cough up as he should, but direct to his cousins, as he has no requirement to pay it through a Heir Hunter. Your clients would be likely to tell you if he had not paid them their share. If he has then your problem will come in ascertaining how much each received if in fact they will not tell you and you have to decide whether to move it forward to a county court or not.

If he has not paid out by Easter then you should consider reporting the facts to the police and they can decide if he has committed an offence or not. With more and more persons taking up this business and more publicity available to others these cases are going to occur more often.

This case highlights the fact that in the first instance, should you have located several possible heirs, then do not send letters off to all at once. You must learn to be selective as to which one to contact first. Then after that one provides their ID and you submit the case which will be no later than one week after the ID lands on your desk, then you can write to the others.

You can then make contact with the other possible heirs. That way you should be first in line to take control of the administration and any other later applicant to the TSOL will be directed back to you.

William

William,

However not everyone works that way. I myself prefer to chase down as many heirs as possible first then choose one with the fewest certs needed to prove the case to TSoL thus limiting my risk.

In the case of the one shirley is involved with there are only three heirs. 2 she has signed and the third is the person in Spain. The only reason Shirley didnt get the estate paid to her was a problem with being able to get suitable identification so when TSoL had two claims in they made the decision to reject her claim and authorised the claim by the person in Spain.

I don't think Shirley is asking for the value etc or that her clients be paid immediately but more the fact the administrator has refused to contact her or her clients and as far as she is aware the last letter she sent him in Spain where he resides is still resting in the post office.

Rob

I thought that this whole business was a risk of sorts and as far as we are concerned then the cost of a few extra certs are next to nothing. At any one time we will never have less than £5000.00 laid out in certificates, wills, divorce records etc.

Our point is that if you wait then you are more likely to come second and being second is not something we like. The man in Spain now controls the administration and he can quite legally hold onto the money until HE is absolutely certain that a closer heir cannot be found.

Come second and you are at the behest of the person who gets the claim grant to them and what I am saying is that it is far too early to be thinking what may or may not happen in Shirleys case as he may pay them or he may not. The chances of Shirley being paid for her work on this case are pretty low. That is why getting the admin is so important. You then control the purse strings.

If we had been first on that claim then I guarantee that it would be Easter before we paid out and that would only be once we was 100% absolutely certain that there was no possibility of a closer claimant coming to light.

Finding heirs is not as important as getting the ID in your hands so that you can get the claim in and on occasions we have even sent agents to go to peoples homes to collect the correct items.

William

William,

Couldnt agree more with you to be honest. It is one of the reasons I tend to stick with the historical case lists at present

Rob

Hi Guys,

Thank you for all the information, it is very helpful.

William I do agree with a lot of what you say and must say I am getting tougher at the admin side but in this case there were 3 brothers, the deceased who has left the estate and the other two who are the fathers of the 3 cousins (all the fathers have passed away)

There are no other heirs apart from the two siblings I have signed and their cousin. I am not expecting the cousin to pay out he may not even have received the cheque from the Treasury yet but my concern is that he is not answering his phone, he is not picking up his mail from me and his daughter who i initially contacted and was very helpful and gave me her fathers contact details is now not answering my e-mails.

I know the man has not been in touch with his cousins as they have contacted me to ask what is happening.

I will try the Treasury you never know there may be an issue I don't know about!