Local Authority Referral – May 2016 – Adoption & and heir in Australia with only £5,000 at stake

The council had just under £5,000 left in their client account which they needed to distribute to the next of kin. They had address details of a possible son, but despite having written to the address, they had received no response.

Then had also received a telephone call from a purported nephew, but when they had requested further information from him, he did not respond.

Our research showed that the Deceased had 2 adopted sons, one of which was Graham, who the Council had been trying to contact, but we found that they had both predeceased, leaving no issue of their own and we therefore had to trace the deceased’s siblings and their children.

Mrs Black (the Deceased), had 5 siblings, all of whom had predeceased, leaving a total of 14 descendants who were entitled to share in the estate, including one who lived in Australia.
As the estate was under £5,000, we did not ask any of the family to retain our services. Instead we reported our findings straight to the council, with a full family tree, report and mailing list. We also provided a distribution schedule which detailed the amount due to each beneficiary according to the laws of intestacy, so that the council could easily distribute the funds directly to the family.