A recent article from the Yorkshire Post revealed that lawyers are searching for a mystery heir who is expected to inherit millions after his mother left him her fortune in her Will.
The mystery heir, named Roy Phillips at birth, was born and adopted in 1964 but his adopted name is unknown. It’s proving to be very difficult to locate the man so the solicitors acting on behalf of the family have now appealed to the general public for help in the search for the mystery heir.
The mystery heir is set to inherit the £3.5 million estate that his birth mother left behind and the solicitors are hoping that the public appeal will help. Keith Needs of TA Matthews Solicitors said, “He was adopted at birth, but we do not know what his adopted name is. The estate is substantial, but unless Roy Phillips comes forward he will lose his inheritance on the third anniversary of Stella’s death.”
“We know very little. We do not know where he lives, what his name is – he might not even know he is adopted. As far as we know, he could be living in Australia.”, Keith added.
We believe that this case raises some interesting points on how adoption impacts genealogical research. Simon Barber, Technical Manager at Title Research, commented on the case:
“Title Research was consulted by the solicitors administering this estate, and it was frustrating that we were unable to help on this occasion.”
“The main stumbling block is the way in which the adoption records in England and Wales are arranged. When a child is adopted, their original birth certificate is annotated to indicate this. An adoption certificate is then produced – but under the child’s new name. This is indexed in the adoption indices under the new surname, then new forename. Depending on the year, the year of birth is also included.”
“As you can see, not knowing the name the child was adopted as makes research to locate an adopted child virtually impossible. Of course, this is right to protect the adopted child, but from a genealogist’s point of view is very frustrating.”