A week ago last Friday, I received an unexpected FedEx package. The contents reeked of scam.
A genealogy researcher–actually, one of a whole firm of them–found someone who just filed for probate on behalf of the estate of a distant, up-and-down the removed generations of my family tree, relative and offered to retain an attorney to place a claim on the estate as an unknown heir.
I asked my brother if he received one, as he should if it had any chance of legitimacy. He did not; I posted on the work Slack that I was pleased that some grifter thought I was a big enough whale to try to impress me with a FedEx.
A little while later, my brother reported that he, too, received one, and he called the number. My brother told me that the story was that the person died without a will and without any close relatives, and if recipients did not put in a claim, that the money would go to the state. That’s what my brother said, anyway, so I started to dream a bit, a little more than I do with lottery tickets. Even a small windfall would come in handy at Nogglestead these days as major household systems need repair or replacement–a roofing inspector from our preferred roofing company came out to look at our single skylight, and his recommendation was to pray for hail storms this spring. So I thought maybe we could replace that, and perhaps the deck…. But when I actually read the letter I received, the story my brother told did not match the letter.
But: I did a little research of my own, and discovered:
- The probate court filing is Personal Representative Supervised With Will.
- The cousin on the mother’s side is the deceased’s first cousin, not some distant relative whose relationship to the deceased is as convoluted as ours.
- The maternal cousin is not a she as mentioned in the FedEx letter.
- The common ancestor is our great-great-grandmother who was sibling to the deceased’s ancestor. However, they were 2 of 12 siblings, which means this FedEx could have gone to twenty or fifty people, not just my brother, me, and our remaining aunt on that side of the family.
So: The “investigator”‘s cut is a third, minus the fees for the Missouri attorney that he has to hire (and anything shared between the attorney and the “investigator” such as a finder’s fee) of whatever settlement is made. Given there is a will, they might be angling for a “go away” settlement of some sort, where the estate is big enough that the executors/personal representatives can carve out some cash that is less than actually fighting the claim in court. To be shared amongst all claimants who received FedEx envelopes and signed on. So they might get a coupon for their next spurious claim for free at the end of the day. Illegal? Probably not. Sketchy? Eh….
I, on the other hand, cannot in good conscience lay claim as the deceased had at least one direct cousin, and a will, and the “investigator” got the pronoun wrong and might have misled my brother on the phone. Also, I am skeptical and suspicious, probably too much so.
On another limb since I’ve already used both hands, my brother has triggered the process (or is one of many of our other cousins twice or three times removed who have). So it’s entirely possible that in a couple of months, my brother might not only have a 25-acre homestead but a million dollars or two. At which point, I will really have to ask myself if I’m playing this game right.
And I wonder how I would react if my brother’s portion of a settlement is indeed sizable. How high would my price be? Where would my chest-thumped integrity go then?
