Member Article

HeirHunter UK expands to Hartlepool-based Innovation Centre

HeirHunter UK, a firm tracking down missing beneficiaries and long lost family members, has found itself a new home, based at the Innovation Centre on Hartlepool’s Queens Meadow Business Park.

Launched by husband and wife team Fraser and Tracy Kinnie, the business has grown from being home-based to accomodating its five-strong team at the centre, run by UK Steel Enterprise.

HeirHunter UK expects to have dealt with more than 200 separate claims, involving tracing missing beneficiaries to unclaimed estates, by the end of this year. Moreover, another two team members are expected to join the company by the beginning of 2016.

Fraser Kinnie said: “We tend to deal with the smaller claims which range from around £3,000 to £5,000 but our largest was more than £25,000. There are thousands of bequests waiting to be claimed and it gives us all real satisfaction to find the people who are the rightful recipients of that money.

“It can be a very time-consuming process and people are invariably happy to work with us and delighted to discover there is a windfall coming their way. We have built up the expertise needed to research public records, probate lists, electoral rolls and databases containing, for example, 85 million telephone numbers. We are operating strongly in a niche market.

“We started out in a corner of our kitchen then progressed to a spare room then the garage,” says Fraser, “and just grew really quickly. We researched a number of different business premises in the area but the Innovation Centre really stood out for us in terms of facilities and cost. We couldn’t have chosen a better place and the UK Steel Enterprise team here is a great support.”

Joan Cook of UK Steel Enterprise said: “We have companies involved in many different sectors here but HeirHunter UK is definitely the first in this line of business. It is heart-warming to see the cards and messages from people who are so grateful and happy to have been reunited with missing family or to receive an unexpected windfall and we are delighted to have the company here.”

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