Sat in his dressing gown at 6am, coffee in hand and glued to his computer, Adam Blanchard is in detective mode – on the hunt for potential heirs to an inheritance.

That’s how the 57-year-old entrepreneur began his very specialised business in 2011, which has since discovered millions of pounds worth of property and assets for surprised beneficiaries.

“Often, when we find heirs to an estate, there is a surprised but subdued reaction. There’s little whooping and fanfare because, I guess, they don’t want to be seen celebrating when someone has died,” Adam says.

In most cases, heirs to an estate are known and named in a will and Blanchards will work with solicitors to help trace family members, if needed.

But more and more people are passing away without leaving a will (known legally as intestate) and that’s when the firm’s heir-hunting specialist skills are required when next of kin cannot be easily located.

“Basically, we find heirs who have no idea they are entitled to inherit from an estate,” explains Adam.

“In a lot of cases, we work from the bona vacantia government list of unclaimed estates, but we are also contacted by individuals who need help.

“It may be a family member, friend, client or perhaps even a neighbour who has passed away.”

Adam, a dad-of-three from Thanet, says that what follows is a painstaking and lengthy process of research, using specialised resources, records and software, to legally establish who is entitled to an estate.

“The fact is there are very few people who are uncontactable and that can often be done quite quickly but piecing together the whole family tree can be much more complicated and time-consuming.

“People sometimes come to us with family trees they have compiled but closer inspection often reveals errors which have taken them in the wrong direction.”

The team’s work is now the subject of a new TV series which begins this weekend, something Adam says is very exciting and unexpected from when he started out his business.

“I was just a one-man band, trying to work out whether I could make a viable business out of it,” he adds.

“But I just became absorbed in genealogy and the challenge and process. It also became a business model that ticked a lot of boxes for me personally.”

Working from home, Adam was signing up just a handful of cases a month.

Needing more space, he then moved to the hallway of another office business in Deal, and his daughter Sophie joined the business.

Together they grew its potential and now lead Blanchards Inheritance, based at the Manston Business Park near Ramsgate, running a 25-strong team that last year found hundreds of benefactors across the world for unclaimed estates worth a total of almost £5 million.

“We have grown into one of the country's largest probate research firms, finding substantial new wealth for people all over the world.,” says Adam.

“So to go from a two-man team to featuring on national television is very exciting.”

Adam recalls one case of a man who died with apparent modest means as he lived in a council house.

But research revealed he had £1 million in shares, which was a huge surprise to his estranged brother and sister who never thought he had made much of his life – but, nevertheless, gratefully inherited half each.

“Basically, we find heirs who have no idea they are entitled to inherit from an estate….”

The company charges a small percentage of an estate for its efforts to trace estates and beneficiaries who sign a contract with them.

At any one time, the team might have up to 300 active cases in various states of progress.

Over the coming weeks, Blanchards will feature heavily on Key To A Fortune, highlighting the firm’s ability to locate the next of kin of high-value estates and properties, which kicked off on Channel 4 on Sunday night.

The team provided five of the six cases featured throughout the series, with the programme showcasing its work, involvement and the properties, some valued in excess of £600,000, highlighting the overnight wealth of the beneficiaries.

One of them is the case of Mary Stephenson who died intestate in 2021, being the owner of a dilapidated Welsh farmhouse and 54-acre small holding with two barns.

After some painstaking work, Blanchards discovered some distant cousins (once removed) who knew of Mary but had never met her and were surprised to learn they were benefactors.

The aspect of the potential renovation of the properties is also prominent in the show.

“Many of the properties we handle can be in ruin and in desperate need of renovation,” says Adam.

“It is the decision of the beneficiaries whether to sell at auction for the fastest route to their fortune or to renovate the property to maximise its value.”

In the first episode on today, beneficiary Storme is shocked to learn she’s the sole heir to a dilapidated cottage near Canterbury, once belonging to a distant relative she had never met who had lived just a few miles away.

After property expert Kunle Barker reveals the property’s true potential and its surprise value, Storme must decide if the scale of the work necessary to turn the run-down house into her forever home is something she can afford to take on alone.

Key to a Fortune airs on Channel 4.

For more information, visit Blanchards