Six cousins have been given a flat worth around £250,000 plus £200,000 in cash after an estranged cousin died without a will and everything passed to them.
Jacqueline Davidson owned a flat in Ilford, London, but sadly passed away on December 12, 2019 at the age of 80.
She had no known family and had not made a will, and her body lay undiscovered for a week.
Jacqueline owned the flat outright, which was in a run-down state, and also had £200,000 in the bank.
Now six members of her family will inherit her estate after being tracked down by specialist 'heir hunters' - companies that track down relatives when a family member dies with no will.
The firm, Finders International, are the biggest heir hunters in the UK and feature in the BBC's Heir Hunters TV series.
They quickly established that Jacqueline had never married or had any children.
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Finders International also found that Jacqueline was the only child of Goldie (also known as Gertie) and Moss Davidson who married in 1934.
Jacqueline was born five years later in IIford. She had worked as an estate agent before she retired and spent most of her life in IIford having been born there in 1939.
Her father was one of four boys, and her mother had three sisters and one brother.
Two cousins on the maternal side of the family and four on the paternal side of the family have now inherited her estate.
Danny Curran, of Finders International, said: “Part of our research always brings us to the property where the deceased lived. In this official capacity we search for key documents, including a will and often get a broader understanding of the deceased and the life they led."
Curran added: "On this occasion it was quite shocking and incredibly sad to see how she lived.
“Her neighbours did not know much about her either. She was ‘a loner’ and ‘kept herself to herself’ according to one local resident.”
Jacqueline's cousin Ashley, also from London, had not seen Jacqueline in more than 50 years.
Ashley said: "Our fathers were brothers, however her father, Morris, died when he was just 38. Jacqueline’s mother, Goldie Lipman, re-married five years later when Jacqueline was 13.
“When Finders International located me I went to visit her home. From what I could see it appeared that Jacqueline lived an isolated, self-imposed solitary existence.
"The flat was in a terrible state. It was quite shocking actually."
“I feel quite sad about it all. It is such a shame that we didn’t know each other, particularly during our adult life.
"However, at least we did get to arrange her burial and stone for her at Waltham Abbey Jewish Cemetery, Essex.”
How heir hunting works - and if you are owed anything
An heir hunter has to find all the family of the deceased person and report their findings to a solicitor who has taken responsibility for winding up the estate.
The order of inheritance starts with spouse, children, parents, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, then half-brothers and sisters. Next it is grandparents, before other branches of a family tree start to be explored.
After 30 years, an unclaimed estate is deemed to be 'bona vacantia' – which is a Latin term for 'ownerless goods'. At this point the government gets to pocket the whole lot.
Details are updated everyday online. This includes details of deceased people with money still left to be claimed – stretching back up to 30 years.
Names are provided detailing people in alphabetic order, along with date of death, address, age and other information, such as possible alias names they may also have used. There are currently almost 8,000 names on this list.
If you have an unusual surname this is an obvious place to start – but look at your family tree for other maiden names that could provide a link.
