Today’s episode sees senior case manager Amy Moyes and the team desperately try to locate the beneficiaries of an estate worth in the region of £750,000 – £1m!

Michael Naish died in 2011 and left a considerably valuable estate, but had no will. He inherited the family home in Oxfordshire and died as a bachelor with no children, as did his brother Gerald, who unfortunately died some years before Michael.

This particular case was a private referral from a local Solicitor who asked Finders to help trace entitled heirs to the estate.

Stuart, Finders traveling representative, travelled to Oxfordshire and spoke to some local people who remembered Michael fondly! He ran the local pub for 10yrs and was described as a nice, down to earth gentleman who was always willing to help!

Amy had been given Michael’s death certificate, and the solicitor had already been in contact with some family on Michael’s fathers side, but not on his mothers. It was suggested that Michael’s mother was an only child, so what Amy  discovered next was a complete surprise….. Kate (Michael’s Mother) was born in 1896, and most definitely NOT an only child. The 1901 census actually showed that Kate had 7 siblings! Clara and Edgar (Michael grandparents) had gone on to have 5 girls and 3 boys, meaning Amy was very optimistic in finding new entitled heirs on the maternal side of the family.

Kate and two of her sisters worked in domestic service, which is where Kate actually met Walter – he was a footman from a neighbouring house! Michael’s parents married in 1918 and moved to Oxfordshire when Walter joined the 13th Rifle Brigade. During WW2 the Rifle Brigade suffered horrific losses, but thankfully Walter survived.

In the hunt for more heirs Amy focused her attention onto Michael’s aunt, Virtue, who had 5 children of her own! Unfortunately all had passed away, so Amy then needed to go down a generation, where she discovered Michael’s cousins, of which there were 9 in total, are all alive and heirs to the estate.
Amy sent Stuart to see each of them to give them the good news!

After some in-depth research, Amy managed to trace every living heir.
The search had led far and wide, with some of the 8 branches extending overseas as far as Australia.

In total there were 44 maternal beneficiaries! Incredible. Well done Amy!