Genealogists and Heir-Tracing Specialists

Estates where beneficiaries are hard to locate move at a different pace to a typical probate clearance. Heir-tracing research can take weeks or months, particularly where a family tree needs to be reconstructed from historical records, overseas archives, or distant relatives who need to be contacted and their entitlement verified.

Meanwhile, the property itself, often left exactly as the person who died left it, sits empty, accumulating the usual risks of any unoccupied home: deterioration, damp, pest issues, and vulnerability to break-ins once a house is known or assumed to be empty for a long period.

• Clearance in these cases often needs to pause or proceed in stages, rather than happening in one visit.
• Personal documents, photographs, letters and records are set aside separately, since these can be directly relevant to genealogical research.
• We work to instructions from whoever has legal authority over the estate, which may be an administrator, a solicitor, or the Public Trustee's office.
• A property can often be made safe and secure without being fully cleared, buying time for research to continue.
• We keep records of what has been removed and from where, which can support both probate administration and the heir-tracing file.

For genealogists and heir-tracing companies

If your research on an estate would benefit from access to the property, or from someone flagging personal papers before a clearance goes ahead, we are glad to coordinate directly. In practice this can mean visiting a property ourselves and photographing or setting aside documents for your review, allowing you or a representative to attend in person before clearance proceeds, or simply holding off on clearing certain rooms, such as a study or a place where paperwork is likely to be kept, until you confirm there is nothing further you need.

We understand that research can sometimes identify potential heirs only after a property has already been accessed, so we are used to working with a level of uncertainty about timing that a standard clearance instruction would not usually involve.

For solicitors and estate administrators

Where you are administering an estate with unresolved beneficiaries, whether following an intestacy or a will where named beneficiaries cannot be traced, property management often becomes a secondary but persistent problem. A house cannot usually be sold, and sometimes cannot even be fully cleared, until matters around entitlement are further along, yet it still needs looking after.

We can provide a holding service in these situations: periodic property checks, basic security measures, dealing with post accumulation, and addressing anything urgent such as a leak, while full clearance is scheduled for once the position becomes clearer. When clearance does proceed, we work strictly to your written instruction and keep a clear record of what was removed and when.

For the Public Trustee and Bona Vacantia cases

In cases where an estate may pass as bona vacantia because no will can be found and no eligible relatives have yet been identified, property is often dealt with cautiously until the position is resolved. We are familiar with the more conservative approach these cases require, including retaining items and paperwork rather than disposing of them, and working only on the instruction of whoever currently holds responsibility for the estate.

Documentation of exactly what was found, where, and what was done with it tends to matter more in these cases than in a typical family clearance, and we keep records accordingly.

How the work runs

Work usually begins with a conversation about exactly what stage the estate is at. If heir-tracing research is ongoing, we ask whether there is any indication of a likely timeframe, whether the genealogist or solicitor wants to review the property or specific documents before anything is touched, and what level of access we are being given, since in some cases we are simply asked to check and secure a property rather than clear it.

We confirm this in writing before attending, so there is no ambiguity about the scope of what we have been asked to do.

If a full or partial clearance is agreed, our team separates items into categories as usual: general contents, items with potential value that may need a valuer's input, and personal papers and documents that are set aside for the genealogist or administrator. We do not dispose of paperwork of any kind in these cases without specific confirmation that it has been reviewed and is no longer needed, since even seemingly minor documents such as old address books or correspondence can sometimes provide a lead in tracing a family connection.

Where a property is being held rather than cleared, we can arrange periodic visits to check for issues such as water ingress, pest activity or signs of break-in, and report back after each visit. This can continue for as long as the estate administration requires, with clearance scheduled once the position on beneficiaries is settled and instructions are given to proceed.

Common questions

Will you clear a property before beneficiaries have been identified?

Only on the instruction of whoever holds legal authority over the estate. In many cases we are asked to secure and maintain the property rather than fully clear it until the position is clearer.

What happens to documents and personal papers you find?

These are set aside separately from general contents and handed to the genealogist, solicitor or administrator, rather than being disposed of, since they can be relevant to establishing family connections.

Can a genealogist visit the property before it is cleared?

Yes, and we are happy to coordinate access or hold off clearing specific rooms, such as a study, until they have had the chance to look through paperwork.

Who instructs you in bona vacantia cases?

We work to instructions from whoever currently holds responsibility for the estate, which may be the Public Trustee's office, an administrator, or a solicitor acting for them.

How do you keep a property safe while research continues?

We can arrange periodic checks, basic security measures, and reporting on issues such as leaks or signs of forced entry, without necessarily clearing the contents.

What if research later identifies further heirs after clearance has taken place?

We keep records of what was removed, from where, and its general condition, which can help answer questions from newly identified beneficiaries about how the property and its contents were handled.

Working with uncertainty over timescales

One of the more difficult aspects of these instructions is that nobody can usually say with confidence how long heir-tracing research will take. A straightforward case, where a missing relative simply needs to be located and contacted, might resolve within a few weeks.

A case involving overseas records, common surnames, or several generations of family history to reconstruct can take considerably longer, sometimes stretching well beyond a year. We try to build clearance plans that can flex with this uncertainty rather than assuming a fixed timetable, for example agreeing an initial visit to secure the property and remove anything perishable or hazardous, followed by a review point at which the administrator decides whether full clearance should proceed or whether the property should simply continue to be checked periodically.

This approach tends to suit administrators and solicitors better than committing to a single clearance date far in advance, since it avoids the situation where a property is fully cleared only for research to later identify a close relative who might reasonably have wanted the chance to see the home or claim specific belongings before they were dispersed. Where that possibility exists, we would rather hold items a little longer than risk removing something that later turns out to matter to a family member who simply had not yet been found.