Does my mum have a fortune in a lost bond from 1972? CRANE ON THE CASE

I am trying to track down a long-lost bond for my 89-year-old mum.

In 1972, she opened a property bond with the now-defunct insurer the Welfare Life Assurance Company and paid in £100 - the equivalent of about £1,160 today.

This was a type of life assurance policy. The money would be invested, hopefully grow in value, and then pay out a sum to my dad on her death.

Over the years Welfare Insurance Company became part of London and Manchester Assurance Company, Friends Life and then Aviva and the bond has got lost.

I contacted Aviva in August 2024, but after giving some initial information I didn't hear anything back.

If it's still active, she'd like to cash it out. M.G, Northants

Helen Crane, This is Money's consumer champion, replies: Aged 35 in 1972, your mum decided she wanted to leave something for her husband - your dad - when she passed away.

She went to Welfare Life and purchased 91.2 shares in a property bond - a kind of investment fund which makes money from buying, selling and renting property.

The £100 she paid in would be worth about £1,160 now with inflation.

The idea is that the money would grow through investments. On her death, the life assurance policy would pay out the value of her shares, or £300 - whichever was greater.

Your mum still has the original document she was given in 1972, but somewhere in the last 53 years she and her bond have become uncoupled.

To illustrate how long ago this was, 1972 was the year that The Godfather was released in cinemas, David Bowie first introduced his Ziggy Stardust alter ego and the first digital watch was sold.

Your mum has moved home twice since then, while Welfare Life has ceased to exist as a standalone company.

It became a subsidiary of the London and Manchester Assurance Company in 1976, and this was acquired by Friends' Provident in 1998. Aviva bought Friends' Provident in 2015.

Unsuprisingly, your mum doesn't remember much about the bond and what she signed up to - and the document she has is scant on details.

However, it does say the bond has a surrender value. This means your mum can cash it out, and in this case she will get at least 95 per cent of the value of her 91.2 shares.

She didn't keep track of the bond so isn't sure what the property investment element was, or how it has performed - but she is keen to surrender it and get her money.

As you have power of attorney, you turned sleuth and tried to track down his bond. You contacted Aviva, and though it replied to ask for some more information from you, you said the firm went 'stone cold' after you sent it.

I contacted Aviva to see if it could help find this long-lost policy.

It then got in touch with you to register your power of attorney, and asked for some more information about your mother and the bond.

While this took some time - perhaps not surprising given this account is more than half a century old and has been administrated by four different companies - I am pleased to report it has now been found.

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A spokesman for Aviva said: 'With the extra detail provided to us, we were able to locate this policy.

'We have been in contact with M.G to register his power of attorney on this policy, so that we can put the necessary steps in place to cash the policy in.

'We investigated [his] prior contact with us, but could not find any record of this.

'We apologise for this delay, but are pleased that we are now able to release the funds according to his and his mother’s wishes.'

The policy is worth just over £1,000, a 900 per cent return on that £100 your mum invested back in 1972 and just shy of keeping up with inflation over the past 53 years.

That is not a bad investment. You say your mum and dad will be pleased to have the cash - and to have put the mystery of the lost life assurance policy to bed.