Surnames that could be sitting on a fortune in Merseyside

There are people in Merseyside who could be sitting on a fortune. There is unclaimed cash across the UK including many in our region.

Each year, the HM Treasury releases details regarding unclaimed estates, including particulars like names, birthplaces, and places of death. When an individual dies without leaving a will, all their possessions - from cash to property - become what's known as their "estate."

Lorraine Gesell, whose mum was from Ellesmere Port, found herself inheriting an estate exceeding £400,000. The 60-year-old was initially sceptical amid fears of "so many scams" but inherited a fortune after Raymond Barry Howson, who passed away aged 85, was found to have left behind an estate exceeding £400,000.

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Raymond, originally from Altrincham, never married or had any children. He spent much of his life as a flight attendant and lived in a two-bedroom flat in Twickenham and following his death in September 2021, Finders International, a probate genealogist firm, embarked on a mission to find any potential heirs to his substantial assets.

Incredibly, the search led the team to Lorraine Gesell, a 60-year-old resident of Canada, who is now recognised as Raymond's heir. Here are a list of family names in Merseyside, released by Finders International, whose estates remain unclaimed. More information is available here.

Unclaimed estates in Merseyside

Birch

Bird

Craig

Esquire

Flynn

Hayes

Hoare

Layfield

Montigo

Morris

Owen

Perry

Pickles

Price

Smith

Stone

Vandyke

Williams

Wilson