Heir today, but gone tomorrow

Untold sums of money from the estates of elderly people are being handed over to the Government on their death, because they die without a will or their closest relative cannot be found.

Now, a new form of bounty hunter is emerging in Britain and, to a lesser extent, New Zealand: the so-called "heir hunters" who search down the relatives to advise them of their inheritance, in exchange for payment. There's even a television show, Heir Hunters, which began screening in New Zealand in June.

The UK show accompanies the people who track down the relatives of people who die without leaving a will, before the money goes to the British Treasury.

Similar work is done in New Zealand, according to the Public Trust's managing solicitor for the northern region, Henry Stokes.

If the Public Trust cannot find any relatives then the deceased's estate goes to the Crown, but Stoke said that was "relatively rare".

"The Crown will be quite resistant to taking a large amount of assets without every effort being made to locate relatives."

The public trust used contractors to get in touch with relatives - our version of heir hunters. "We call them genealogists."

Lynley Goldsmith is a genealogist who finds relatives of those who die intestate. She has been on the receiving end of an unexpected inheritance when she was contacted by a company in England five years ago about a distant relative who had died.

"We didn't even know the person who had died. It was very exciting," she said.

Stokes said if the deceased had a partner and children, the estate would be split between them. The estate of someone with a partner and no children, but with parents still alive, was split between the partner and the parents.

Stokes said this caused confusion because most partners without children thought they would inherit the lot.

"There's a belief out there that everything goes to the partner, which is not true."

September is Wills Month, launched by Public Trust in an effort to encourage all New Zealanders to write or review their wills. Public Trust's general manager for sales and service Alex Polascheck said one of the most common reasons people did not prepare a will was because they became busy with day-to-day priorities rather than planning for the future.

Research shows that only 52 per cent of New Zealanders have a will.

Stokes urged people to make a will, saying leaving an estate without one put added stress on a grieving family.