Loom resources · England & Wales
An Heir Hunter Has Contacted Me — Do I Have to Use Them?
What you can investigate yourself before signing away a percentage, and what changes once you’ve already signed.
A letter has landed on your doormat.
Someone you’ve never heard of has died. An heir hunter, probate genealogist or solicitor thinks you could be related to them — and potentially entitled to part of their estate.
Good news.
Then you reach the bit where they want you to sign an agreement giving them a percentage of whatever you inherit.
And naturally you think:
Hang on. Now you’ve told me about the estate... can I just claim it myself?
Potentially, yes.
If the estate is being handled by the Bona Vacantia Division (BVD) in England and Wales, entitled relatives can make a claim directly.
You don’t automatically have to use the heir hunter who found you.
But before you politely wave goodbye and start doing it yourself, there are a few rather important things to establish.
Not simply because they contacted you.
The Bona Vacantia Division publishes its own process for entitled relatives to make claims directly.
That means the important question isn’t: “Who found me?”
It’s: “Can I establish that I’m legally entitled to this estate?”
An heir hunter may already have done a considerable amount of work to find you.
They may have reconstructed a complicated family tree, located numerous relatives and obtained certificates and other evidence.
That work has value.
But it doesn’t change who is legally related to the deceased.
If you’re entitled, your entitlement comes from your relationship to the person who died — not from signing up with the company that discovered you.
Put the tree to work
Your family tree shouldn’t just sit there.
Put it to work.
Put my family tree to workLoom identifies potential connections. It does not establish legal entitlement, guarantee inheritance, file claims or prove a relationship.
Official sources