Once upon a time

You're faced with an intestate case for which the family cannot tell you all the information needed to properly administer the estate. Where do you turn?

Do you begin the process relying only on the known details? Invest countless hours of your own time to establish the entitled relatives and build a family tree? Or do you enlist experts who may just uncover information that could change your view of the case altogether?

Many solicitors approach Fraser & Fraser because they've chosen to do this. And a recent case proves why instructing a professional genealogist to verify facts is often best practice.

*Elsie Wright was born in 1930 in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, and married George Strong in 1966. The wedding took place in Ilkley, where the couple lived their whole lives. They never had children.

Elsie passed away in a nursing home in 2012, without leaving a will, two years after the death of her husband. Her two nephews, David and Robert, believed they were entitled to claim the estate. ?Their mother, Helen, Elsie's only sibling, had ?died a number of years earlier.

With a simple family history such as this, it's fair to assume that the estate administration would be a straightforward matter - the solicitor handling the estate thought so. But he wanted to be thorough, so he used Fraser & Fraser's Free Family Tree Check. This service involves reviewing the family tree as it stands to assess its completeness and accuracy. On this occasion, the story had only just begun.

Family secrets

While Elsie's marriage to George was no mystery, by 1960s' standards, she was fairly old to be marrying at 36. This sparked the interest of our case manager. He was instructed to carry out further searches and we discovered Elsie was first married at 23 and had a son, David. The revelation of a child would potentially change the distribution of Elsie's estate.

As facts unfolded, it transpired that Elsie had divorced her first husband after only a couple of years. But what became of the child continued to be a mystery. Elsie's son appeared to have lived with her for the first year of his life, after which no record of him could be found. He had not been adopted, meaning he was legally Elsie's son and had the right to inherit her estate.

The search continued and the case manager's research revealed a well-kept family secret that would change the nephews' entitlements.

Although 'nephew' David had been raised by Elsie's older sister, Helen, he was not her biological child. The woman he knew as Aunt Elsie was, in fact, his natural and legal mother, who had given him up following the breakdown of her first marriage. After careful research and expert handling, a case that was brought to us with unclear beginnings, turned into ?a case with a mystery solved and could finally be rightfully distributed.

Family secrets, informal adoption, multiple marriages and a lack of research expertise can all ?play their part in making research more complex than it originally seems. Fraser & Fraser's Free Family Tree Check service gives you the chance to discuss the complexities of a case with us.

We check for inconsistencies, gaps and ?question marks so that we can advise you on the ?best way forward. If you would like more information about the Free Family Tree Check and other services ?we offer, please get in touch so we can talk through your requirements.

Call 020 7832 1430 or email legal@fraserandfraser.co.uk

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*Names have been changed