‘A dear friend’
In late 2023, the two sisters, Lisa and Nicole, received unexpected news: they were to inherit their late aunt Christine Harverson’s estate. Even though they had not seen their aunt since childhood, she had died without leaving a will – so as her closest living relatives, the two sisters inherited everything, including a Wimbledon property worth close to £1 million.
However, their application was stopped in its tracks when a mysterious will appeared, naming a “dear friend” Tamas Szvercsok as the beneficiary of Christine’s entire estate as well as sole executor – and, who it also turned out, was a professional fraudster.
Warning signs
Even though neither the sisters, nor Christine’s good friend and neighbour, had ever met or even heard of Szvercsok, it didn’t mean there wasn’t a possibility that his claim was genuine. But there were a few warning signs that something was amiss:
- The mystery will was dated 2016, but by that point, Christine was largely housebound, severely disabled and rarely had any visitors.
- The will effectively disinherited her husband Dennis, who was not only still alive at the time but also her main carer. He passed away in 2020.
- As a joint owner of their home, Dennis’s share couldn’t legally be left to someone else without his permission, yet the will attempted to do just that.
There were other more worrying signs that the will wasn’t genuine. Christine’s home address was spelled incorrectly and the address given for Szvercsok in 2016 didn’t exist until 2021.
A connected web
Sadly, the sisters were not alone and the BBC investigation unearthed other cases. Like Charles Haxton, who was living alone in a terraced house in Tooting, south London at the time of his death in 2021.
No will was initially found for Mr Haxton, but as with Lisa and Nicole, Haxton’s family were told that a will had appeared after all, leaving everything to one man called Roland Silye – who turned out to be connected to Szvercsok though a web of connected companies that were set up to deliberately dupe families out of their inheritances. There were also similar warning signs in the Haxton case as with Christine Haverson’s case – along with others named by the BBC’s investigation.
Where did they get the information?
At the centre of this fraud is the Bona Vacantia list - a government register of estates without wills or known heirs. Until recently – in fact, it’s as recently as 9th July 2025 – the list was publicly accessible and meant to help heir-tracing professionals connect unclaimed estates to rightful family members. Instead, it had become a goldmine for criminal gangs – but thanks to the BBC investigation (link to: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyqw41yeppo) it has been taken offline.
However, the warning signs are still there, and, when cases are reported to the police, there is very little they can do and it becomes a civil matter.
These cases really bring home the importance of preparing a will and keeping it up to date. If you need to draft a will or update any legal paperwork, contact Downs Solicitors to see how we can help.
Contact Joanna Pashley
