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When a family member died in the 1960s, he was holding money for his 3 nieces and nephews. The neices and nephews receiving this money was told about this by a solicitor in the late 1960s but all the papers were lost and therefore this money has not been claimed. Does anyone know how we would go about looking for this or how we would go about it? Ive heard about companies who do searches for you but I dont want to scammed!

It sounds to me as thought the solicitor has already 'scammed' you..........he probably had the money himself!

You could get a copy of his will and find out who the executors were. If they are still around, you could ask them!

The Companies you are thinking about only deal with UNCLAIMED estates of people who died without making a Will, so they would be of no use to you in this instance. See if Probate was filed, which will enable you to get a copy of the Will, and then see if the accounts were filed (a sign that the Estate has been distributed in accordance with the Will). If the accounts haven't been filed, then I am afraid Reggie is probably right - the solicitor had the money and there is very little chance of ever getting it back. Happens quite a lot. but do check it out, as the Solicitor may have been above board, and invested the money properly. He will have informed the Law Society if he did this. OC

A trust fund is slightly different from an estate. A trust fund is set up by someone during their lifetime. It may come to fruition during the lifetime of the person who set it up e.g. if the beneficiaries come of age or it may be conditional upon death. It may leave a specific amount of money in trust or it may leave an amount of capital to be invested on behalf of the beneficiaries. Some trust funds are charitable and these are the most likely to be invested on behalf of the beneficiaries in order that the money can continue to grow and benefit as many charities as possible. Either way, the money involved in the trust fund is usually held by the Solicitor instructed if not to be invested, or by an asset management firm if investment is necessary. The Solicitor/Asset Management firm will usually do an annual report which tracks the money involved. This is usually sent to the trustees and the person who originated the trust.For the sake of equity there are normally two or more trustees. The solicitor you mention should have some record of the trust IF the money is still held. The file should still be open as files cannot be closed if money is still held on client account. However, if the file has been closed, it would only have been kept for 12 years after the date of closure before it was destroyed. If it was closed more recently, it would have been destroyed after only 7 years. If I were you, I would go back to the Solicitor and ask some more questions. Someone must have some more info: the names of the trustees involved will be particularly useful as it is only they who can administer the trust and they all have to be in agreement!

Amy Yes, of course! Sorry, for some reason I interpreted the post to mean that the uncle had set up a Trust Fund, after the parent died! OC

OC, Natural assumption to make really. I work in a law firm so I'm constantly surrounded by these problem questions and therefore used to looking at it from all angles. However, I'm not a Solicitor so I'm never 100% sure. I did check with a few Tax & Trust Sols for this one though. They all agree that someone has had the wool pulled over their eyes! Unhappy stuff :o(