15 Jul 2013

Case Study: Rainmaker

Rainmaker is our alternative to contingency. It enables you to retain control of an estate and the commercial opportunity it represents when there is an intestacy but no known kin.

An unusual probate problem for a firm in Birmingham was recently solved using our Rainmaker service.

We were contacted by a solicitor attempting to administer the estate of a man who had died aged 102 when his son, the estate’s sole beneficiary, sadly died intestate within days of his father’s funeral.

Our client was naturally keen to set to work dealing with the son’s estate but soon discovered there was no one to instruct them. Having hit a brick wall, they turned to Moore Probate Research’s Rainmaker service, whereby we undertook a stage of research for them at our own expense and risk.

Our first step was to confirm that the son had no immediate family. Having done so, we turned to his wider family and quickly managed to locate a paternal first cousin who was willing to instruct our client to act in administering the estate.

Now that an administrator had been found, the next step was to search for the remaining heirs. We built up a complete picture of the paternal family, tracking down heirs in the UK, the US and Spain and, in the process, we also confirmed there were no heirs on the maternal side of the family.

Now our client was in a position to administer what had once been a problem estate with the minimum of fuss; our time based fee was proportionate to the work done (in fact the net fee was equivalent to only 0.22% of the estate); and the 11 heirs shared almost £700,000 between them.

Matthew Moore is the director of Moore Probate Research www.mprmissingheirs.co.uk
Email: matthew@mooreprobateresearch.co.uk
Tel: 01225 690 021