Family Tree Verification

Research can be started with just a death certificate

When administering an estate on intestacy you may wish to consider establishing or verifying a family tree to ensure that entitled kin are included and unentitled kin are excluded.

Family structures continue to increase in complexity and there are several factors that can contribute to this:

Multiple marriages
Blended families
Adoptions in and out of the family
Informal name changes
Cohabiting couples

Amateur research can lead to errors and misdistribution

Whilst genealogy can unearth interesting family history, our role as probate genealogists is to forensically utilise research skills in application of succession laws in order to establish all entitled kin.

We apply the relevant rules of intestacy and meticulously descend each family line to investigate all entitled heirs (or prove that the line dies out). We will contact each beneficiary and confirm their identity, regardless of where they reside.

We can commence enquiries into someone’s family tree with just the information contained on their death certificate. Our approach to genealogy is comprehensive – we prove everything where possible.

Our standard searches in the UK include:

Marriage searches from ages 16 to 50
Searches for children born to a marriage from the date of marriage to the woman’s age of 50
Searches for a death from the date they were last known to be alive to their age 105

Along with this we'll also document all relevant events such as births, marriages and deaths as well as obtain probate papers to further verify the extent of the family tree.

We'll also consult relevant census returns, the 1939 Register and interview family members to ensure that our research is comprehensive. This approach allows us to secure fee estimates for missing beneficiary indemnity insurance to further protect Personal Representatives from any potential personal liability in the future.

We'll provide an initial review of each matter we are presented with to form a research overview
After our free review we'll provide a formal assessment and estimate of costs for the estate
We won't commence any formal research unless instructed by a firm acting as or for a Personal Representative of the estate
We charge on a time and expense basis and research costs related to the work involved, not the value of the estate
We don't enter into contracts with individual potential beneficiaries

Case study: A much larger family

When Mrs K died intestate, we were appointed by our solicitor client to verify that the believed family was correct. Our client found two nieces and a nephew that descended from Mrs K’s late brother. However, we discovered that Mrs K had 10 siblings who had all died before her. After descending each line, we proved that three of her siblings had no children. The remainder of her siblings did have children and our research uncovered 34 heirs in total, all living in the UK, Australia and the US.