Family helped by probate specialist

The family of a man who died without any known relatives has been tracked down by a probate specialist, highlighting the benefit of probate services.

Raymond Maynard's £250,000 estate was spread between surviving relatives after David Milchard found them through a census, the Oxford Times reported.

The probate specialist was only armed with the name of Mr Maynard's father, George Maynard, which subsequently emerged to be an alias.

Mr Milchard found the mother of Raymond Maynard in the Scottish census and then found her sister's name, before tracking down her descendants.

Raymond Maynard's estate was handed over to Elsie Powers, 63, and 25 of his other relatives in Scotland.

In addition, a new study has highlighted the importance of making a will. Lexology contributor Fay Copeland said that over the past three years there has been a tenfold rise in the number of inheritance disputes, suggesting that writing a will could have avoided this.

Published by Phil Hammond