Title Research was asked to research the uncles and aunts on the paternal side of an intestacy case a solicitor was dealing with. The Deceased died leaving no surviving close relatives and the estate was due to be divided amongst her whole blood uncles and aunts. The solicitor’s client was the Personal Representative and paternal first cousin of the deceased. They were convinced that there were no maternal relatives at all, so Title Research followed the instructions and fully verified the paternal family tree, identifying and locating 15 potential heirs.

Just before Christmas, the estate was ready to be distributed, until the client received a Christmas card signed ‘Cousin Joyce’. The card had been forwarded from the Deceased’s address and sparked new research into the maternal family tree. Although no one appeared on the family tree with the name Joyce, it turned out that she was a maternal cousin. Further research identified a further 18 potential heirs on the side of the family nobody believed existed. Distribution was delayed to allow Title Research to conduct a full investigation. Cousin Joyce’s Christmas card means this client had a lucky escape from a potential mis-distribution claim.

Key case points:

• Our client asked us to create the family tree for a lady who died intestate.
• The Deceased was born in eastern Poland in 1911. The family were of the Jewish faith.
• Ultimately, research was required in Australia, Austria, France, Guatemala, Israel, Italy, Poland, Spain, UK and USA.
• Seven potential heirs were ultimately located.

This particular case study demonstrates the impact that events in world history can have on our work.

On the face of it, this may appear to be straightforward. The Deceased died intestate in England, and we needed to reconstruct her family tree in order to establish who the rightful heirs to her estate were. She was a widow, without issue, parent or surviving siblings (or their issue). She was born in 1911 and so her grandparents had statistically long since died as well, so we were able to proceed straight to investigating the class of whole blood uncles and aunts (and of course their issue).

Now, she was born in eastern Poland, and this is a jurisdiction we can work in and do so regularly with usually very good results. Research takes longer, and occasionally we encounter problems where records are missing or damaged due to World War Two, or the international border has moved so a town or village that was believed to be in Poland is now in Ukraine or perhaps Belarus. But, with patience and perseverance the full family tree can normally be established.

However, you may have noticed from the key case points that the Deceased’s family were of the Jewish faith. Religion is not something that normally comes into things when we are researching a UK based family – records are not organised in accordance with religious beliefs, and unless we are searching way back before civil registration started in 1837, we don’t normally need to look at parish records such as baptism or marriage. When we are carrying out this type of research in Europe, where the civil registration system is not as advanced, we need to consult religious records much more frequently. As such, knowing that a family were Catholic or Protestant is very useful indeed. As is knowing they were Jewish.

I am sure we are all aware of the horrors of World War Two, and the atrocities that were committed against the Jews across Europe. This often presents itself in our research and provides its own unique challenges as it did in this case. Tragically, we found that some lines of the family completely disappeared and we could find no records relating to some of the first cousins once they had been identified – no marriages, or emigration records for example. Occasionally we were able to pick up references to members of the family in some of the ghettos that were set up by the Nazis – Warsaw for example, but nothing further. It was clear that they had just disappeared without trace. On other occasions, we did find records – including that some members of the family had perished at Auschwitz. Over the last fifty years, the worldwide Jewish community have preserved testimony from the now dwindling number of holocaust survivors and as we are now into the internet age much of this is becoming available to search and whilst at times harrowing to read, it is helping us greatly in our work.

Some lines of this family did escape – and as you can see research was ultimately required around the world. We located only seven potential heirs to this estate, much less than we would expect from a family that was as large as this, and insurance supported our research on those lines where documentary evidence was not available.  The final, and perhaps most interesting point on this case comes from two heirs we found in the United States. They, along with approximately 850 others, avoided transport to Auschwitz Concentration Camp with the help of Oskar Schindler, and I am sure many of you will have seen the film Schindler’s List which tells this story.

Title Research was called in to locate a missing legatee named in a Will. The only trouble was he was last known to be cruising the Mediterranean. With little background to go on, apart from the fact that he’d bought a yacht and then went out on the high seas, we were unable to locate him. This meant that the client couldn’t distribute the estate without the risk of a potential future claim. As an alternative, Title Research obtained a quote for Missing Beneficiary Indemnity insurance, which our client purchased on behalf of the estate. This allowed the executor to pay the beneficiary’s share to the residual legatee, in this case a charity.

At Title Research we are experts in locating missing beneficiaries overseas, even if they are living in a cave. When one solicitor approached us for help to locate a missing legatee, all we knew about his was his name and that he was last known to be living in a small town in Spain.

After some initial enquiries, we dispatched our local Spanish researcher to investigate further on the ground. He established that the missing beneficiary was living in a cave in the mountains above the town, visiting every couple of weeks to collect his mail from the post office and get some food. Despite his unconventional lifestyle, the solicitor was able to make contact and pay him his legacy in full.

A solicitor turned to Title Research to help them deal with funds that had fallen into a very historic trust fund. The critical date for vesting purposes was 1935, so for any beneficiaries that died after this date, their estate would benefit. In the case of this historic trust, the majority of original beneficiaries had died, so Title Research set about establishing what had happened to their estates, so that the client could make contact.

By the end of the investigation, we had successfully traced 36 current beneficiaries, who all received a share of the funds, allowing the client to close their file.

One beneficiary contacted us for advice because she had signed an agreement with a genealogy firm to pay 25% of the estate’s value to find missing beneficiaries to her father’s estate. With an estate believed to be worth around £18,000, the firm could end up charging her £4,500 plus VAT.

Crucially, only three potential heirs needed to be located, making this an ideal case to be resolved for a fixed fee. With limited research required to find the missing beneficiaries, a fixed price would ensure the beneficiaries retain more of their inheritance.

Personal representatives who agree to this charging method may open themselves up to claims from beneficiaries, if they question whether or not the estate funds were used effectively. Title Research offers comprehensive cover to protect your clients and minimise the risk of future claims.

Unclaimed monies can be a headache for solicitors, which is why one client turned to Title Research. This firm had over 80 accounts with unclaimed monies, resulting from probate, conveyancing and matrimonial matters. Guidance from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) stipulates that client money must be returned promptly, as soon as there is no longer any proper reason to retain the funds. The firm decided to deal with the unclaimed funds to operate best practice.

We reviewed the information available for each account and, where feasible, conducted further research to locate the missing person, with a report on the outcome. Some of the cases had limited information, meaning research wasn’t possible and a report laid out all the reasons clearly. For the remaining accounts, we traced the rightful owners of the funds, allowing our client to satisfactorily dispose of all the funds and close all of the accounts. The monies either went to the rightful owner or were donated to charity.

Our solicitor client approached us to locate the next of kin on intestacy for a Polish gentleman named Mr S. Mr S served in the Polish Home Army during World War II and subsequently settled in Huddersfield. He married an English lady, who predeceased him and they had no children together. Our client expected us to be searching for Mr S’s siblings, starting off in Poland.

Having reviewed the facts, and confirming that the town Mr S was born in (Plock) was in fact in Poland, our researcher on the ground commenced work at the local records office. His initial findings were that Mr S was married before the war, in Plock. Not only that, but this wife was still alive in Poland, although she had subsequently married again, twice.

As there was no legal divorce on record, this individual became Mr S’s next of kin, being his surviving spouse. His later marriage in England was of course technically invalid. We located the individual concerned and interviewed her about her life history. It turned out that because Mr S never returned to Poland following the war, he was presumed dead and she therefore remarried. Now very elderly, she took the news that her first husband had survived well, and became the sole beneficiary to his £250,000 estate. The issue that her subsequent two marriages were, technically, bigamous, was never discussed….