A Newcastle woman who died alone after a divorce and without children was given a pauper's funeral before probate genealogists discovered she had 115 surviving relatives. Olga Baker-Hewitt, 81, died in a Newcastle nursing home in January 2023 with no known relatives and no will, prompting the local authority to arrange a public health funeral.
Finders International was then instructed to investigate whether Olga had any surviving relatives, as her estate of £15,000 was waiting to be claimed. Their research revealed an extensive family tree spanning generations, eventually identifying 115 relatives with an interest in the estate.
Heir Hunters Fan Receives Unexpected Letter
Janice Stephenson, a 68-year-old retired teaching assistant from Gateshead and a devoted fan of BBC TV's Heir Hunters, was stunned to discover she had become part of the inheritance case herself. She was contacted by Finders International after they were tasked with tracing relatives of the Newcastle woman who had died without a will or known next of kin.
Janice said: “I got a letter from Finders International and I was just so excited. I knew all about them because I loved Heir Hunters on TV. I contacted my cousin and, yes, they had received a letter too. What happened next was mind-blowing.”
Family Tree Reveals 115 Beneficiaries
Danielle Yianni, Senior Public Domain Analyst at Finders International, said: “We quickly established that Olga was divorced and had never had any children. But what initially looked like a straightforward case soon snowballed. Olga’s father, Francis, was one of 14 siblings, creating a huge network of relatives across several generations. We eventually identified 115 relatives with an interest in the estate.”
Janice, who had never heard of Olga before receiving the letter, said: “It was unbelievable. The letter mentioned Olga, but I had never heard of her. I had actually done one of those at-home DNA tests the previous year, so I was becoming aware that I had quite a lot of relatives I didn’t know about, but I never imagined our family tree could be anything like this.”
Estate Divided Among 115 Relatives
Olga had married Kenneth Baker-Hewitt in 1969 when she was 27. The couple divorced 14 years later and had no children. Her death triggered a painstaking search through generations of family records to establish who was entitled to inherit. In the end, Olga’s estate, worth around £15,000, was divided among 115 beneficiaries. For Janice, her share amounted to £42.
Janice said: “This was never about money. I have found out so much about my family. Lots of things I never knew about and that is priceless. I am sorry that I didn’t know Olga. It makes me wonder what she was like and what her life was like. I wish I could have met her.”
Janice also found something 'wonderfully surreal' about finding herself on the other side of the Heir Hunters story she had enjoyed watching on television. She said: “I never imagined that one day I would be one of the people that Finders would be looking for.”
Finders International, established in 1997, is the UK’s largest professional probate genealogy firm, tracing missing heirs, beneficiaries, assets and next of kin worldwide. It works with lawyers, councils, healthcare trusts and private individuals across the world.
