Hi folks,

I thought I would post here to see if anyone has any pearls of wisdom on my Friday afternoon dilemma.

My brother and myself have been contacted by a company called Anglia Research saying that we may be entitled to a share of an estate from a long lost realative who has died intestate.

They of course don't tell you who the deceased is, otherwise we could claim the cash without them taking their 25% cut. I saw a documentary about this type of thing before and I'm guessing that there may be other companies eager to get us to sign on the dotted line aswell, I don't know if we could negotaiate their cut.

Does anyone have any experience with probate genealogists? I'm wondering what happens if all the entitled relatives don't want to sign up? I'm off the the USA for 3 weeks on Monday so can't sign anything until I get back.

It's made an average afternoon quite exciting!

Yes !!!My mother was approached about the estate of my dead father ..who nobody had heard or seen off for 30 years ..

They wanted 30% ..we negotiated it too 20% signed some papers
and we received a check about 6-8 months later ..

How they found us was never explained as our tracks had
been well covered

Thanks Ray! I will get on the blower to my dad and tell him.

I suspect my brother will want to do some investigating before he signs up, he's kinda curmudgeonly that way

I ordered a copy of my 3rd gr grandfather's will, hoping to find out his wife's name and it just arrived this week. (NB Records can be pretty chauvinistic, leaving out a wife's maiden name or even first name. ). Anyway, I get the will (apparently the wife had already died) and he left his son, my 2nd gr grandfather the family homestead in Leeds, ME. However it goes on to distribute his estate to the rest of his children who received the whopping sum of ONE DOLLAR each.

I bet there's a story there.

One dollar, wow!

Sounds like 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' to me. He sounds like big daddy.

Mendacity,

Had this happen so often having had a common last name, I don't even bother to reply to those letters.

They have details of my parents and grandparents. I'm pretty sure it's genuine

I expect they are. My Mum came into a few bob last year from a long lost aunt, she said the company take there fare share but she was happy, well it was better than getting a kiss in the face from a wet kipper. Seem's they have two year's to trace you or else the the powers that be get there hands on it.

It is amazing what you can find online and even more so with a membership in one of the Genealogy sites.

could you imagine if the nigerian scammers tried to use anglia research services?!?!

Everything is negotiable. flat fee, propose a graduated percentage based on amount... you want to know how much are they talking about etc. they'd be well rehearsed if you try to say to them 'so and so offered to do it for' so you could renegotiate with them by pointing out to them that since they initiated the contact by coming to you, then something belongs to you - so nothing to stop you going directly to another entity with a blind stab in the dark with "I'll give you x% upon collection of any/all monies owed to me" etc... whichever method you choose, potentially you'll get part of the share and AR potentially won't.

no doubt they are double dipping too, they will be paid by the entity who asked them to find you per se.... and by what method.. etc.
do they have errors and omissions insurance; what happens if they make a mistake?

I did research into OH's family, one line went back to the England in the
1400's. I was lucky to link into it with all the work done. This is the part of the family that helped burn Jamestown. At one time they were all in West Virginia, it was noted "These people lived in an isolated rural area, family lines cross frequently." There are also wills listed, and beds and dressers seem to have been prized items to have passed on to you.

if its a legitimate company, they have people scanning & reading all the newspapers, for ads from law offices/executors "Looking for the family of the late Joe blogs" etc. They then look up & search for all the Blogs family. This company has found what you yourself may or may not be able to find. 50 States, thousands of Counties & cities etc.
Do you have any clue, as to who or where your long lost relative, may have lived. From that you may be able to go online & find them. Or as Ray, said, negotiate the fee. DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY MONEY UP FRONT. Do a BBB on the company, do a Google search.
Reg. Frank R.

now that was my LOL for the morning the whole family is looking at me kind of strange..... that was very quick and very not expected.. NOW GO WASH UR MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP AND WATER