A woman was left stunned after she received a mystery phone call telling her she had received a £100,000 windfall from a relative she never knew she had.
Divorcee Ann Margaret Mathison died alone in Los Angeles aged 74 in November 2020, leaving behind a stunning £1.5million estate.
But with no will and no known relatives, probate research genealogy company Finders International, who star on BBC show Heir Hunters, was called in to track down her heirs.
This was when Laura Barts, who lives in a port town in Cumbria, received a stunning phone call.
She was told that she had inherited the incredible sum through her estranged father – who walked out on her family when she was two, leaving a note in her brother’s cot.
And in a bizarre twist, his bitter decision to refuse permission for her loving stepfather to adopt her meant Laura was still eligible to benefit from the sum after he died.
She said: ‘I kept thinking, these things just don’t happen to people like me. I was completely shocked.
‘I never heard of or knew of anyone related to me in the US. It was explained that the relationship between me and the deceased was through my father’s side of the family.
‘I don’t know much about my father’s extended family either, as he left our family when we were very young – I was only two years old.’
Mrs Mathison was born in Glasgow in 1946, before emigrating to the US with her parents when she was young.
She was an only child and had two short-lived marriages, which both ended in divorce. When she died she was living in Glendale – just minutes from Hollywood and the home of Disney, Marvel and DreamWorks.
Fellow residents of the plush California city include Bette Davis, Nicole Eggert, Kathy Ireland, Shia LaBeouf and Eva Mendes.
Laura and her late brother were among 28 people scattered across the UK, USA, and Canada who each received a share of her fortune.
Her father died in 2019, decades after moving to Germany.
Laura continued: ‘My mother, who died some years ago, told me that one day my father just walked out. He put a note in my brother’s cot, knowing that my mum would see it there, saying that he was leaving and not coming back and that was that. The last I heard about him was that he had moved to Germany and was working there.
‘The only man I consider to be my father is my step-father. He has been in my life since I was very young.
‘He wanted to adopt me, but my biological father would not consent to it. Turns out, 50 years later, this refusal, which was hurtful at the time, has now allowed me to inherit from his cousin!
‘I am incredibly grateful to Finders International and to Ryan in particular who really helped us on this incredible journey. Honestly, it has changed my life.
‘I don’t have to worry about money any more. I paid off my mortgage immediately – that was such a relief. I’ve bought a lovely campervan and while I continue to work, I am just not struggling anymore.’
Had Laura been adopted by her stepfather, she would not have been eligible to her share of the estate.
Ryan Gregory, of award-winning professional probate genealogists Finders International, said: ‘We initially tried to find Laura’s father as he was a cousin of the deceased – Anne Mathisen. However, we established that he had indeed gone to Germany and had died there in 2019.
‘On the face of it, Laura was then entitled to her father’s inheritance, however she had changed her surname to her step-father’s, so the big question was whether Laura had been legally adopted, or not, by her step-father.
‘If Laura had been adopted by her step-father then she was not entitled to be a beneficiary to the estate – as the connection to the estate in LA was through her biological father.
‘It transpired that Laura’s estranged father had refused, despite numerous requests, to allow Laura to be officially adopted by her stepfather. Ironically, that decision has now benefited her to the tune of over £100,000.’