For Relatives

Why your will might be invalid

Posted in For Relatives, For Solicitors

Historically, people instructed their solicitor to draft their will. However, in recent years more and more of us are turning to DIY wills – including template packs that can be bought in high street stationery stores. In this article, our legal and compliance executive Rosie Kelly examines why some wills fail to comply with legal requirements and are ruled invalid.

Will we remember them?

Posted in For Family Historians, For Relatives

When Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old screens on BBC 1 on Armistice Day, it will mark the end of the centenary of World War One. Let’s hope that the film’s extraordinary emotional impact will galvanise more people to add their relatives’ records and stories to Lives of the First World War, the permanent digital memorial set up by the Imperial War Museum.

When patience and persistence pay off

Posted in Case Histories, For Family Historians, For Relatives

In this article, case manager Carolyn Felgate extends the definition of ‘patience’ and ‘persistence’ as she reports on her ten-year struggle to chip away at an impregnable genealogical brick wall – the case of Mary Margaret Baker.

Celebrity intestacies should be a warning to us all

Posted in For Relatives, For Solicitors

The multi-award winning soul singer Aretha Franklin, who died recently after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, leaves an enduring musical legacy – but no will setting out how she would like her $80 million estate to be distributed. In this article, Rosie Kelly reports on the widespread resistance to writing a will among celebrities and the general public alike, and spells out the consequences.

Between two families

Posted in Case Histories, For Family Historians, For Relatives

In this article, case manager Sam Watkin discusses an informal adoption arranged before the Adoption of Children Act 1926. When relevant public records are almost entirely absent, how can probate genealogists prove someone’s identity?