‘Heir hunter’ tried to sell off model’s home
A TELEVISION heir hunter who ignored a will and attempted to sell a deceased model’s £600,000 home to make a commission has landed himself with a £250,000 legal bill after losing a court case.
Andrew Fraser, who has featured on the BBC’S Heir Hunters show, believed Tessa Amstell may have died aged 98 in 2011 without making a will.
He then set about tracing heirs in an attempt to make a hefty commission on the north London property, unearthing up to 30 distant relations.
However, it emerged that Mrs Amstell, a Thirties society model, had created a will – which had been mislaid and not formally admitted to probate – and in it she left the property to her favourite nephew Martin Amstell, 74.
Central London County Court was told Mr Fraser ignored Mr Amstell’s claim despite being told of the missing will, and took control of Mrs Amstell’s estate “with gusto”.
He tried to sell the house to pocket his £75,000 commission after changing the locks on her home and clearing it out. He then ran up sixfigure bills in an attempt to “play the game and squeeze” her rightful heir, the court heard.
When learning of the will’s existence he embarked on an expensive 12-month “trawl” through medical records in a “pointless” attempt to prove that Mrs Amstell had lost the mental capacity to make one, said Judge Nigel Gerald.
After he dropped the challenge to Mr Amstell’s inheritance, Mr Fraser went to court to get him and 22 animal charities also named in the will to pay his £134,000 costs.
However, Judge Gerald ordered him to pay the entire costs of the dispute after saying he had been “primarily focused on his financial gain”.
Mrs Amstell and her husband, jazz musician Barnet “Billy” Amstell, lost touch with their family in their later years and lived out their final days in north London.