Christine Haverson (deceased) - BBC article and Radio 4 programme
You might have seen reports in the press and heard on BBC radio 4’s Shadow World programme about the estate of Christine Haverson (deceased) having been referred to BVD and how an attempt has been made to steal it by seeking to admit to probate an allegedly fake will, disinheriting her family. If not, you can read the story here and listen to the programme here. As we shall see, there was no need for Christine’s estate to have been referred to BVD.
Referral to BVD enabled fraud
Because the matter was referred to BVD it became public knowledge and it follows that there’s a risk of similar fraud with all such referrals - at Fraser and Fraser we are aware of a number of other very similar cases apparently involving fraud by fake wills and the common link is that they were all referred to BVD. Perhaps there are others we’re not aware of. A good way to mitigate this risk is to treat a referral of any estate to BVD as the last resort rather than the first port of call – had Christine’s estate not been referred to BVD, the fraud would not have occurred. Indeed, BVD’s approach to referrals to itself has changed in recent years, reflecting modern practice, but many cases are still referred to it which it would prefer not to receive.
Background to the case and the role of BVD
In the absence of any other arrangements being made it seems that Christine’s funeral was carried out by her local authority under s46 Public Health Act 1984 – possibly you and / or colleagues will be familiar with these arrangements. At the time, the council didn’t know of any surviving family members, and decided to refer the matter of her estate to BVD. BVD’s role is to administer estates in favour of the Crown where there is no person with a better claim on the estate – i.e. executors named in a will, if any; or, where there is no valid will, surviving next of kin.
But the generosity of the rules defining next of kin for these purposes, coupled with the national demographic (each of us is a member of a family), make it more or less inevitable that next of kin do exist and can be found – and, as if to prove this point, Christine’s estate is a good example and her nieces were located shortly after BVD advertised her estate on its website. This is entirely usual – the overwhelming majority of cases referred to BVD yield heirs in priority to the Crown. As skilled genealogists, we at Fraser and Fraser locate next of kin where it is confidently asserted that there is none: all day, every day. And in this case, and only because the matter had been referred to BVD, fraudsters also learned of her estate, created a fake will and attempted to put it through probate.
Referrals to BVD
Historically, BVD was the go-to resource to refer cases to when a person had died with no family to hand. The resources available to quickly identify and locate next of kin which we now take for granted were simply not available in the way they now are, and BVD was well resourced: councils, hospitals, coroners’ offices, solicitors’ firms and members of the public would refer cases to BVD who would gladly accept them. However, it has always been the case that any given deceased person is highly likely to have left surviving next of kin – what has changed is how straightforwardly this true position can now be shown and BVD’s updated approach to such referrals reflects this.
What to do?
At Fraser and Fraser we trace next of kin of deceased persons for the public sector all the time and for a variety of reasons. Possibly a s.46 funeral is to take place; maybe an Empty Homes Officer asks us to locate surviving family of a deceased property owner; perhaps a council is a creditor of the estate of a deceased service user client where the council has been looking after their financial affairs during lifetime. In all cases we locate family members - often where it was said that there was none.
Updated guidance from BVD – referrals to BVD a last resort, not first option
Whereas historically the starting point might have been “If we don’t know of any family there probably isn’t any so refer to BVD”, this is no longer a tenable approach: rather, the starting point now is “Yes, it is statistically almost certain that next of kin exist and can be traced until shown otherwise.” This is borne out by BVD’s updated approach to the referral of matters to itself, reflected in guidance on its website: and here’s the most directly relevant bit:
BVD does not deal with estates where:
• There are known or likely to be entitled relatives who survived the deceased, even if these have subsequently died, cannot be traced or do not wish to deal with the estate.
As we’ve seen, it is highly likely that entitled relatives will have survived the deceased. Additionally, the head of BVD is on the record, saying:
“Our position is that as over 80% of estates referred to the Government Legal Department each year are not Bona Vacantia, we should aim to give up the Crown’s interest in such estates as quickly as possible. Ideally, of course, our preference would be that these estates are not referred here in the first place as it is not appropriate that GLD is used as a tracing agency for missing kin or executors. Furthermore, it is our view that before anyone refers an estate to GLD they should be as sure as they can be that the estate is, in fact, bona vacantia.”
The position is clear: even if an estate appears to be bona vacantia, it most likely is not. It is straightforward for a well-resourced, properly regulated professional firm to establish the true position in a matter of a few days at most. There is no obligation to refer cases to BVD as a default position – rather, based on the quote from BVD above, the opposite is true. Please contact me for an informal chat regarding any matters where you are unsure about the whereabouts of next of kin – we would be delighted to assist.
Nick Beetham is Business Development Manager at Fraser and Fraser. You can reach him on 07850 739812 and [email protected].
