A WOMAN was handed a share of £180,000 for free by a complete stranger – and it wasn’t a scam.
Dr Anna Phillips, 65, who lives in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia, and teaches art at an international school got a surprise phone call saying she had inherited the cash.
In July 2019 George Anderson, 81, died in a nursing home in Kirby, Merseyside, but did not make a will and had no known next of kin.
Danny Curran, from Finders International, the UK’s largest professional probate genealogy firm, and star of BBC’s Heir Hunters show, was handed the task of tracking down his relatives.
Dr Phillips told the Liverpool Echo: “While the inheritance is not life changing, it was of course a nice surprise.
“We paid some into our mortgage in Tasmania, and then gave some to our children.”
Thanks to Curran’s work, it was discovered that George was born in Everton, Liverpool North in 1938 who was the only child of Elizabeth Phillips and George Anderson who had married in 1937.
George Jr had never married and never had any kids.
His dad died in 1969 and his mum died in 1998.
Anderson’s mum was one of ten children, four of whom tragically died in infancy.
One of her brothers, Thomas Phillips, is Dr Phillips grandfather.
Making Anderson’s mum and Dr Phillips’ grandfather siblings.
The work done by the researchers took them right around the world to places such as Canada, Malta, Australia and Kyrgyzstan and they successfully traced all 26 beneficiaries of the estate.
Dr Phillips initially got a letter from Finders International telling her about George Anderson and the money but straight away thought it was a scam.
She explained though she got a call later while she was on her way home from teaching.
Dr Phillips said: “It was just surreal to hear that I was related to this man that I never knew and had been tracked down as a beneficiary to his estate. It was totally unbelievable.”
She added the windfall had been special, not just for the money but because the process had helped get the extended family in touch with one another.
The teacher added the money would help her and her husband to focus on their passion for creating art and music into their retirement.
