The Public Trustee

[Jill]

On my search for probates yesterday I came across 3 which were granted to the Public Trustee. Does this mean that the deceased had no known next of kin?

[Olde Crone]

No, you cannot FORCE anyone to act as Trustee, so it just means no one could be found who was willing to be a trustee, or all the named trustees had died.

OC

[Jill]

Thanks OC. Two of them were for a friend I'm researching for, I'll leave it to her as to whether she buys them or not.

[Olde Crone]

Not that it makes any difference, but I am assuming that Public Trustee is a different thing from the Official Solicitor.

OC

[Phoenix]

It may mean they were in a nursing home, with possibly a variety of neices & nephews.

This is what it says on an official website: "The Public Trustee may act as executor when requested to do so, but, may also act as administrator of an estate of a deceased person (with or without a will), or as trustee of a trust whether as original or substitute trustee, usually only as a last resort, and in the interests of vulnerable individuals or persons under disability, or where there are differences between executors, trustees, or beneficiaries."

[Jill]

They were both childless, their father was Henry Wainwright the Whitechapel murderer who was hanged in 1875 for murdering his mistress. The family changed their name, only one of the 5 children married and there were no children. (Their mother was my friends gt grandad's cousin)