I got £17,000 from a stranger – it was a HUGE surprise, but completely legit
A WOMAN has revealed how she got £17,000 from a complete stranger – and thousands could be in the same position.
In 2021, Kimmy Booth, 60, received an unexpected letter telling her she was about to inherit a stranger’s entire estate.
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The surprise money came from 90-year-old Eileen Booth, who died alone in a nursing home in south-west London.
Eileen didn’t know next one of relatives and had not made a will, meaning there was no clear recipient for her estate.
This led to Finders Internationala professional genealogical company that regularly functions on the BBC Heir hunters show, tasked with tracking down her relatives.
Finders discovered that Eileen had previously lived in Battersea, London, but had never had children.
Her brother, named Eric, had moved to Ottawa, Canada, with his wife in 1956, where they then had Kimmy.
Finders tracked her down and then Kimmy received a letter explaining that she would inherit Eileen’s entire estate.
Kimmy, a parts manager at an appliance company, said: “It came completely out of the blue.
‘Initially I didn’t really know what to think about it.
“It came as a huge surprise when I discovered that my late father had a sister, and that we had never met or heard of her – a part of his life that remained unspoken.”
Over the years, Kimmy’s family had only kept in touch with her mother’s relatives in Britain.
She said her father, who died 47 years ago, never really talked about his family in England and there was no contact with them, so it was completely unexpected to be tracked down as Eileen’s family. next one of relatives.
It turns out that Eileen had actually tried to reach Eric by letter sixty years earlier, but because she didn’t include a return address, no one knew how to get a response back.
Mother-of-two Kimmy said: “When I heard about my Aunt Eileen, I made a special request to receive photos of her.
“I thought it was important to know her, even if we will never meet her.”
After her father died, Kimmy had no one to ask about her aunt.
She said: “Thanks to the work of Finders we now have names, dates and photos of my father’s side of the family – so I’m very grateful for that.
“It’s still a story that we won’t get all the pieces of, but we know more now than ever before.”
Kimmy also said that although Eileen’s inheritance was a complete surprise, she will use it wisely.
So far, she’s purchased a new bed and loveseat for her new home, and she’s currently looking for the “perfect” piece of art to remind her of the “loss of someone I never had the pleasure of meeting.”
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Can you queue up for a windfall?
Danny Curran, Finders International said: ‘Families lose touch for all kinds of reasons.
‘It happens often and these types of situations are more common than you would expect.
‘It is terribly sad to think that a letter, received some sixty years earlier, could have reunited Eileen with her brother, without omitting a return address.
“Without a will, however, we have no idea what Eileen would have wanted to do with her money.”
Danny added that if the team hadn’t found Kimmy, Eileen’s money would have gone to the Treasury.
“It’s great to see that it was given to her relatives instead and that Kimmy has now been able to find out more details about her family,” he said.
According to Finder’s International, there are approximately 6,500 unclaimed estates on the Bona Vacantia list.
Bona Vacantia is the name given to these ownerless estates, which are then transferred to the Crown.
Relatives and heirs have only twelve years to claim an estate once it has gone unclaimed from the Crown.
The list is published by the government and updated daily. The list consists of the estates of people who have died but do not have a will, or living relatives.
The only other requirement to be listed is that the estate has a minimum value of £500.
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How can you find out whether you are entitled to an inheritance?
You can search the list yourself and file a claim, but this process can be expensive and time-consuming.
To see the full searchable list updated daily, visit:
You will need to establish a family tree, list the dates of birth, marriage and death, and pay for copies of certificates for each person between you and the deceased.
An heir hunter, such as Finders International, will do the legwork for you, for a fee.
But bear in mind that you are unlikely to be the sole heir to an estate and around 95% of listed estates are worth less than £1,000.
What happens if someone dies without a will?
IF someone dies without a will in England or Wales, their estate is given to their next of kin in the following order:
- Husband, wife or registered partner
- Children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and so on
- Mother or father
- Siblings who share the same mother and father, or their children (cousins)
- Half-brothers or sisters or their children (cousins of the half-blood or their children). ‘Half’ means they share only one parent with the deceased
- Grandparents
- Uncles and aunts or their children (nephews or their descendants)
- Half-uncles and aunts or their children (cousins of the half-blood or their children). “Half” means they share only one grandparent with the deceased, not both
Note that once the most highly related relative has filed a claim, this nullifies the claims of lower relatives.
So, for example, if you are a first cousin, you are only entitled to a share in the estate if there are no family members above you in this order.
In the meantime, check out our guide on how to trace an inheritance.
Plus, a woman got a share of £180,000 for free from a complete stranger – and it wasn’t a scam.
Do you have a money problem that needs to be solved? Get in touch by emailing money@the-sun.co.uk.
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