‘WE HAVE TO FIND MARIE HILTON’
Public appeal made in search for Drogheda heiress to English estate
THE HUNT is on for a Drogheda woman who is the heiress to an estate left by her brother in England.
Despite extensive research, heir hunters business, Finders International, who do work for the acclaimed BBC show ‘Heir Hunters’ have been unable to track her down.
Now they are going public with their search for Marie Hilton, who was last seen in Drogheda about 15 years ago.
‘ The name Marie Hilton is the one we are working with, but it’s a complicated story,’ Drogheda man Padraic Grennan (pictured), Business Development Manager Ireland, with the company explained this week.
Marie Hilton’s brother, Michael, died in Southampton in 2008 and as far as they know, Marie is his last surviving relative.
He left an estate, as indicated by the treasury in Britain, which needs to be settled.
‘We don’t have the full value on it, but a number of firms are working on the case,’ Padraic stated.
The story begins in 1943 with the birth of Marie Hilton to Phyllis Veronica Hilton. Marie, and two siblings she didn’t know about for many years, Phyllis and Michael, were adopted or fostered. She would now be 72 years old.
The problem we face is that she may have changed her name from Hilton
A WOMAN, who is believed to have been living in Drogheda, certainly up to 15 years ago, is being sought by an international ‘ heir hunters’ firm as they want to hand her an inheritance she was not expecting.
But the bid to unite the woman with her money is proving to be a difficult journey.
Finders International, who have an office in Dublin, are seeking to find a woman called Marie Hilton.
‘ That’s the name we are working with, but it’s a complicated story,’ Drogheda man Padraic Grennan, Business Development Manager Ireland, with the company explained this week.
Marie Hilton’s brother, Michael, died in Southampton in 2008 and as far as they know, Marie is his last surviving relative. He left an estate, as indicated by the treasury in Britain, which needs to be settled.
‘We don’t have the full value on it, but a number of firms are working on the case,’ Padraic stated.
The story is like one that often appears on the BBC hit series ‘Heir Hunters’ whom Finders International work on.
The story begins in 1943 with the birth of Marie Hilton to Phyllis Veronica Hilton who was born in 1924 and passed away some years ago.
Marie, and two siblings she didn’t know about for many years, Phyllis and Michael, were adopted or fostered.
‘ The problem we face is that she could have changed her name from Hilton. From what we can find, she didn’t marry,’ Padraic stated.
The Drogheda angle to the story stems from a meeting around 2000 when her sister, Phyllis, who lived in Ballyfermot and her husband, Patrick, came to Drogheda to visit Marie.
‘We don’t know a great deal about the meeting, but Patrick believes Marie was living in the town at that stage.’ Phyllis has since passed away. Marie’s mother, Phyllis Veronica Hilton, married an Indian gentleman called Nagalingham Sundaran when she was 50.
‘ The Marie ‘Hilton’ we are looking for would be 72 now and we have been chasing this for a number of years, but without any luck,’ Padraic added. They also need to know if she had any children.
They can be contacted at 01-6917252 or on www.findersinternational.ie.
‘We would love to hear from Marie or anyone who might recognise the details of her story, or indeed if she did have a family.’
Finders International has been operating since 1997 and are worldwide leaders in probate genealogy.
‘We have worked with the Heir Hunters show and there’s been some great results for families.
‘ There is a huge interest in this and it would great to resolve Marie’s case.’
He added that there’s a website called www. unclaimedestates.ie and it lists 583 estates of people with Irish descent that have not been claimed.