Case Study: Sister Sister

A’s estate was to be distributed under the Rules of Intestacy as he did not leave a Will.

His wife of 26 years sadly passed away before him and they had one son who was stillborn.

A had 2 brothers and 4 sisters, and his parents had also passed away before him.

His brothers had passed away at an early age. Two of his sisters went on to have their own children and we were unable to locate the two younger sisters who were sent to live with foster families as a result of WWII.

Despite our best endeavours, we were unable to determine their current whereabouts, but it was assumed that they had adopted their foster family’s surname as they had not been formally adopted.

Following distribution of the estate, we received a phone call from the Personal Representative; one of his missing aunts had contacted him.

Having spoken with his aunt, we were told that she now went by a different first name and had adopted her foster family’s surname. She told us that she had spoken with a neighbour and they were sharing memories of their childhood when they realised that they grew up on the same street.

With the assistance of her daughter, she looked further into her family history and, equipped with what she already knew about them, her and her daughter found the s.27 Notice relating to A’s estate. The s.27 notice we placed named the Personal Representative and provided a means to contact him.

Over the years the aunt had tried to look for her family and they had also tried to look for her with no success.

The missing aunt had not seen her family for 74 years and to her surprise, one of her sisters was still with us.

With our assistance, both sisters were re-united with one another.

74 years and many miles had separated the sisters. Their story has touched our hearts and we are truly honoured to have helped them find one another.

Our deepest sympathies go out to the family for the recent loss of a mum, sister, and aunt.