No two the same

There has been a development in new complexities due to the rise in multi-family households, and an increase in assets held overseas as people increasingly live, work and invest outside of our borders.

However, we haven’t got much better at making wills. Statistics* indicate that two-thirds of British people still don’t have a valid will, and nearly 60% of parents don’t have a valid, up-to-date will in place. This can have a profound effect on estates and heirs. Private client practitioners are required to have a very broad skillset, so it can be comforting to know that, where needed, professional probate genealogists can step in.

No instructions

On learning of the death, practitioners may have a problem right at the start: no instructions to act, no access to funds, and little or no information about next of kin entitled on intestacy. Probate genealogists can assist to help get the administration process moving, with a variety of flexible fee options.

Due diligence

The subject of wills – or their lack – can be thorny. The family is convinced that a will was written naming them; or that a more recent will exists than the one in your possession. Our thorough Missing Will Search, backed up by missing will indemnity insurance, can remove uncertainty and allow the estate representatives to move on with the process.

Verification

The work of tracing missing beneficiaries utilises many research tools via publicly accessible online records of births, marriages and deaths, census records and social media, as well as electoral roll and other commercial data. It’s the training, credentials, special records access and research methodology that set a professional probate genealogist apart from “bedroom” sleuths, ensuring that all parts of the family tree have been carefully researched, and all beneficiaries located.

Estate practitioners can find themselves misinformed about the true extent of the family. Family members don’t always know about additional heirs that emerge through research, but genealogists find that some beneficiaries are economical with the truth. Taking the word of the “sole heir” at face value is a potentially costly risk to take, one that can be avoided by engaging a professional probate genealogist to independently verify the family tree.

“There’s no one else…”

Finders International was involved in the estate of a man with a £400,000 intestate estate. The man’s sister asserted she was the sole beneficiary. Finders verified the tree and found that she had a nephew, entitled to half the estate. She had, it appeared, neglected to mention his existence because she didn’t approve of his behaviour. The nephew received his rightful share of the inheritance, and the practitioners saved a great deal of trouble and expense from a potential later claim.

Finding assets

It’s easy for a person to acquire assets overseas: perhaps being paid in company stock, combined with an increase in wealth managed overseas, helps us feel that we live in a truly globalised world.

It’s when the owner of these assets dies that we tend to find out the world is not so globalised after all. A virtual security gate crashes down, and the estate representatives and legal practitioners must deal with a string of unfamiliar requirements from a foreign-based asset-holding institution, that may create legal, financial or administrative complications – or all three! Outsourcing this to an experienced professional firm of probate genealogists can help with what can be unfamiliar, lengthy and time-consuming work.

Finders International is an award-winning probate research firm established in 1997. We trace missing heirs and beneficiaries to estates, property, funds and assets worldwide. We work with solicitors, accountants, corporate or state trustees and financial institutions. We are the founding member of the International Association of Professional Probate Researchers, Genealogists and Heir Hunters (IAPPR), which aims to provide a single, authoritative voice for corporate industry professionals.

* Source: “Perplexed by wills”, Royal London press release, December 2018

If you would like to contact Finders International for advice or information, call us on +44 (0)20 7490 4935, email quotes@findersinternational.co.uk, or visit our website to view our services.