Will Fraud

What is Will Fraud?

Will fraud is when criminals draft a fake will when someone has died, which purports to have been made by the deceased themselves. They usually do this when no official will has been made.

One way in which criminals initiate this crime is by looking on the official government register of unclaimed Estates in England and Wales – Bona Vacantia (Latin for ‘vacant goods’). The register advertises the unclaimed estates of deceased persons for relations to identify their own entitlement. The criminals frequently search this list and quickly ‘mock up’ a will in the deceased’s name in which the deceased leaves all of their Estate to the fraudster themselves. Such wills can be very hard to disprove, and therefore, if there are any real heirs to the Estate who do come forward, they can be left with nothing. The online register has been temporarily removed by the government as of 7^th July 2025.

A recently investigated case

In 2023, sisters Lisa and Nicole were contacted by an heir-finder company, Anglia Research Services who gave them the news that their Aunt Christine had died and she did not have a will. Lisa and Nicole had not seen their Aunt since childhood, but because they were her closest living relatives, they stood to inherit the whole of their Late Aunt’s Estate, which was worth a substantial amount. The sisters took steps to obtain the Grant of Probate but this process came to a halt when, out of the blue, a Hungarian man by the name of Tamas Szvercsok contacted the Probate Registry. He produced a will, supposedly made by Christine, which left the entirety of her Estate to him. He claimed he was a good friend of Christine’s, despite her family, friends and neighbour never having heard of him.

Lisa and Nicole began to look into things further and found several mistakes and inconsistencies within the will and with Mr Szvercsok’s story and presented their concerns to the police and the Probate Registry. Lisa and Nicole were then told they would have to take civil action if they wanted to prove that the will was a fake. To do so would have cost tens of thousands of pounds, which the sisters simply did not have.

Protection from Will Fraud

Ways in which you can help to protect yourself and your loved ones from will fraud are:

1. Make a will with a regulated and reputable firm of Solicitors and store your will safely with that firm
2. Inform your family/loved ones that you have made a will and where it is stored
3. Choose executors and replacement executors to the will that you trust and explain to them their role within the will

How can Taylor Bracewell help?

If you wish to make a will please contact our friendly team of experts in Wills, Probate & Trusts and we will be happy to provide you with our expert advice and guidance.

Call our Doncaster office on 01302 341414 or our Sheffield office on 0114 272 1884. Alternatively, you can fill out our online enquiry form.