Series 1 – Programme 3 (of 6)
Wouldn’t you want to know if a relative of yours died without making a will? Because if this person leaves money – and if no living relative comes forward to claim it – it goes to the state. For years, brothers Steven and Kit Smyrl have been tracking down the heirs to unclaimed estates and giving them their inheritances. This new six-part RTÉ series follows their quest to find the rightful owners of Dead Money.
Episode 3
In programme three, Kit travels to the Dordogne where he hears the unhappy tale of Frenchwoman Yvette Gebhard and her ‘black sheep’ Irish grandfather. He and Steven pick up the quest for Yvette’s relatives in Ireland. A fascinating story unfolds, involving a mysterious drowning, life in a mental institution, and an Irishwoman who worked for a Russian Tsar.
The series is presented by two of Ireland’s leading genealogical legal researchers brothers Steven and Kit Smyrl. They are the driving force behind the leading genealogy firm Massey and King. For almost 20 years they’ve specialised in tracing missing beneficiaries, not only in Ireland but throughout the world. With offices in Dublin and a network of researchers and agents across the globe, they can trace next-of-kin no matter where they reside.
In the course of each programme, the Smyrl brothers search and uncover fascinating information about the lives of the deceased’s ancestors and relatives. While the brothers search for facts, it’s who they find that makes these stories come to life. Personal histories unfold with a link to the present day when we meet the living relatives. We hear tales of mysterious disappearances, tragic bereavements, abandonment and reunion, set in some of the most fascinating periods in history, from the bitter conflict of Ireland’s Land War to the chaos of the Russian Revolution. The beneficiaries, or long lost relatives have stories of their own to tell – some harrowing, some entertaining – fractured families linked together once more by the brothers’ findings.