What is family tree verification?

Finders International provides a family tree verification service in cases of intestacy to ensure all the entitled kin have been correctly identified and located.

Family tree information is often provided informally by the family genealogy enthusiast. This is not enough to rely on in legal matters and we have encountered hundreds of cases over the last 25 years where either beneficiaries have been incorrectly identified as entitled kin or other heirs on intestacy have been completely overlooked.

We will take the research back to it’s starting point – the death of the deceased and work through the family tree methodically and systematically to ensure prior classes of entitled kin are all ruled out or, as often happens, mistakes are identified and corrected.

Families cannot be expected to know for sure if their relatives had illegitimate issue or other ‘skeletons in the closet’.  How can we know for sure that our great uncles and aunts did not remarry, have children late in life or adopt a child? When parts of the family emigrate the family tree becomes even more prone to errors.

Families are renowned for not revealing everything to one another and we find serious errors and omissions in around 20% of all cases referred to us.

Why is family tree verification recommended?

Confirming the details of a suggested family tree if vital before the distribution of an estate, as incorrect distribution could lead to legal action being taken against the estate Administrator who may be personally liable for any losses.

if a claim is made against the estate the Administrator can show due diligence was followed by asking us to verify the family.

After we have verified the family tree copies can be circulated to all the proposed beneficiaries for their observations or comments. In may jurisdictions it is possible to take out an insurance policy to cover against the remote possibility of a hitherto unknown beneficiary coming forward at a later date, providing  even more watertight protection and ensuring protection for the Administrator.

We can obtain such insurance in most cases, on condition that we have verified the family tree.

Our family tree verification service

This service may be free of charge according to the circumstances of each case, so please contact us with details and we will respond promptly without charge or obligation.

Intestacies are know for their surprises; unexpected next of kin being located when the family tree was thought to be complete. We cannot over-emphasise how often this happens!

By instructing us to confirm the validity of the genealogical research and provide evidence that the family tree is correct, we can save families from untold, lengthy and potentially very expensive disputes.