UK Probate Genealogy

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UK Probate Genealogy

Obtaining european passports for people with european ancestry. 56 Irish passports and many others achieved already.

Helping families prepare family trees and family histories. The history of your house and assisting with probate questions.

30/07/2026

Famous last words - keep on the Scotch if you want a longer life...

1. Jane Austen: "I want nothing but death" (1817)
2. Karl Marx: "Go on, get out — last words are for fools who have not yet said enough!" (1883)
3. Oscar Wilde: "Either that wallpaper goes, or I do" (1900)
4. Bob Marley: "Money can't buy life" (1981)
5. Steve Jobs: “OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.” (2011)
6. Winston Churchill: “I’m bored with it all.” (1965)
7. Humphrey Bogart: “I should have never switched from Scotch to Martinis.” (1957)
8. Spike Milligan: “I told you I was ill”

29/07/2026

Nothing Brings a Family Together Like… an Intestacy Battle.

If I had a pound for everyone who said to me “Oh my affairs are very simple, I don’t need a will - the family will sort it out” or “It will all go to my partner” I’d have an awful lot of pounds.

So, who inherits what if I don’t write a will?

No 2 and no 8 below are surely the best reasons to write a will

The laws of intestacy are both simple and complex – sorry about that! and the link below has an excellent guide on how to work it out

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will/y

Basically the order of priority is:

1. Spouse (the first £322k) plus half of the residue if there are children

2. A partner who was not married or in a civil partnership with the deceased has no automatic right to inherit.

3. Children or their descendants (The whole estate if there is no mother or half the residue)

4. Parents

5. Siblings then ½ siblings or their descendants

6. Grandparents

7. Aunts and Uncles then ½ aunts and uncles (by blood) or their descendants

8. The Government!!

If you are handling probate in a case of intestacy, whether you are a lawyer or an executor, then we at UK Probate Genealogy can handle all your due diligence by preparing a detailed family tree and tracing all the beneficiaries – all for a fixed fee with regular reporting.

28/07/2026

Were you or a relative adopted and you now feel the time is right to try and find them?
Welcome to the minefield that is adoption tracing, whether you were adopted or have relatives who were adopted or put your own child up for adoption.
UK adoption records are not public, but adopted adults over 18 can access their original birth certificates, agency files, and the Adopted Children Register.
Official resources include the ⁠General Register Office and the ⁠Adoption Contact Register.
Types of Records Available
1. Original Birth Certificate: Shows your birth name and birth parents.
2. Adopted Children Register: A legal index of adoptions managed by the Registrar General since January 1927.
3. Local Authority & Agency Files: Case notes, social worker reports, and background family details held by the council or charity that managed the adoption.
4. Court Records: The formal adoption order and court papers from where the order was granted.
How to Access Records:
Age Requirement: You must be 18 or older to apply for your own records.
Counselling:
If you were adopted before 12 November 1975 in England or Wales, you must attend a counselling session with an approved adoption adviser before getting your birth details.
Tracing Locations:
Use the ⁠CoramBAAF Locating Adoption Records database to find out which local authority or voluntary agency holds specific files
If you would like some free advice on how to proceed please get in touch – family reunions are what make us tick.

24/07/2026

Have you carelessly or inadvertently lost a family member...? Happy reunions are us! It helps if they are into dog sledging!

“Graham, I’ve lost my Dad, can you help?”

At UK Probate Genealogy we use all sorts of techniques for tracing long lost family. From online genealogy sites, directories and social media to DNA, schools and sporting or social activities.

We were recently asked to trace our client's father who had been a GI ("oversexed and over here") and who separated from our client's mother shortly after she moved to Canada to be with him.

She moved back to the UK with our client and all contact was lost with the American/Canadian family.

Looking through old letters we discovered that the father was a keen dog sled enthusiast and his last known address was in Ontario.

Using the Canadian censuses and birth,marriage and death records we were able to trace his parents (deceased) and their children from Ontario to Newfoundland. There we found that the whole family were involved in dog sledging.

Further communication with dog sledging associations gave us an obituary for the father but also the names of his two sons, our client's half brothers. These we traced back to Ontario where they were living just two streets away from the old family home!

Just a few months later they all met up and have been happily in touch ever since. (The Canadian side were completely unaware of the UK connection but were delighted to make contact)

23/07/2026

Due diligence for probate solicitors - use a professional (like us!)

Monday morning phone call - "Hi Graham, we've been approached by an heir hunter who wants 25% of the estate (which is worth £2m) and a large tracing fee for each beneficiary. They have sent us a family tree and asked us to handle the legal side. Would you be able to check the family tree and let us know what you think?"

A fixed price quote later and we start work.

Almost immediately we find two people on the paternal side who aren't related to the deceased. A week later, while contacting the maternal side we find a whole set of cousins who weren't on the heir hunters list - thereby saving our client later embarassment and possibly considerable expense.

Some of the beneficiaries had already been approached and given contracts by the heir hunters but fortunately had contacted their solicitors before signing. Saving some of them up to £40k! One of those solicitors

If you are a probate lawyer and have been sent a family tree for checking we can do you due diligence for you and save the beneficiaries considerable sums (as well as making sure the right people receive their inheritance)

For fixed fee probate genealogy contact us on 07725 993 400 or [email protected]

16/07/2026

Seven Reasons NOT to Write a Will
Still haven't written a will? Fair enough. Here are some excellent reasons to keep putting it off:
You LOVE the idea of your estate being divided according to strict intestacy rules, drawn up by people who've never met your family.
Nothing says "I care" like leaving your loved ones to argue over who gets Grandad's clock.
You quite fancy the thought of a probate genealogist (hi, that's us) spending months tracking down your second cousin in Australia, at your estate's expense.
You trust that everyone will "just know" what you wanted, despite never actually telling anyone.
Paying more in legal fees and delays later sounds more fun than a short chat with a will writer now.
You'd rather your partner of 20 years get nothing, because you were never quite "officially" married.
Watching your family navigate probate stress during grief? Peak entertainment...In all seriousness — a will takes far less time to write than it takes to sort out an estate without one. Do future-you (and your family) a favour.

15/07/2026

Hints for Will Writers — Help Your Executors Help You
Writing a will? A few small additions now can save your executors weeks (sometimes months) of stress later.
Here's what we always recommend including for every beneficiary:
Full legal name (Sarah Smith)
Date of birth or approximate age
Current address, or last known location if you're not in regular contact
Their exact relationship to you (e.g. "daughter of my late brother John" or "my friend from workplace")
Why does this matter? Because when it comes time to administer an estate, executors often have to track down beneficiaries with nothing more than a first name and a vague family connection. That's where things get slow and sometimes impossible without professional help.
The clearer your will, the faster your loved ones receive what you intended for them — and the less they'll need to spend on tracing costs.
If you're a solicitor, will writer, or private client advisor, we're always happy to be your point of contact for tracing missing or hard-to-locate beneficiaries.

14/07/2026

1926 Irish Census Oddities

We've been diving into the 1926 census records our ancestors made some interesting returns
Some of our favourite finds so far:
A "occupation" listed simply as "layabout" — filled in by the man himself!
A household of 14 people, one privy, and a note reading "cosy."
A four year old listed as a widow, and a 19 year old grandmother
A number of 15 year olds listed as married
Occupations such as Lamplighter, Umbrella Fixer and Rabbit Trapper
An entire family listing their address as "the field behind the Crown."

If you think YOUR family tree is dull, think again. Somewhere in the archives, a relative of yours probably described their job as "professional idler" and got away with it.
Fancy finding out what skeletons (or layabouts) are hiding in your family history? Get in touch — we love a good rabbit hole.

06/07/2026

Heatwaves – not as rare as you might think
In the Western Daily Press of Saturday 11 May 1867 a maximum temperature of 136.9F (58C) in the sun and 93.3F (34C) in the shade
There really is nothing new under the sun!

03/07/2026

A tragic story of The hypocritical vicar and how he caused his daughter to end her own life
We received an instruction to carry out probate research for what the immediate family described as a very small family.
Our client's client had died in a Stockport nursing home, unmarried and without issue, and his father's side of the family told us that there was nobody on the mother's side and that the entire value of the estate (£2 million) should come to them.
Our client decided that some due diligence was required and asked us to look into the family tree.
As it turned out the mother was one of 17 children! so it was more than likely that there were some descendants still living. (It turned out that there were 42 beneficiaries on that side)
When we found the oldest surviving cousin, Mary, the first thing she did was to show us a newspaper cutting of how her mother had committed su***de soon after giving birth (out of wedlock) because her father, a local preacher, had cast such shame on her that she put her head in the gas oven.
Now that was sad enough but, while creating the family tree, could we find a marriage certificate for the preacher and his wife? Well, yes we did eventually, but they didn't marry until seven years after he had caused his daughter to kill herself for what he had already done 17 times.
The hypocrisy was unbearable for Mary who was understandably deeply bitter about being robbed of a mother because of the social mores of the day and because her grandfather was a complete s...
How to spot somebody's possible suicidal thoughts
Warning Signs Easy to See

1.Talking about dying or wanting to die
2.Talking about feeling empty, hopeless, or having no way out of problems
3.Mentioning strong feelings of guilt and shame
4.Talking about not having a reason to live or that others would be better off without them
5. Social withdrawal and isolation
6. Giving away personal items and wrapping up loose ends
7.Saying goodbye to friends and family
If anyone needs support for suicidal thoughts you can contact the Samaritans at https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/ or by dialling 116 123
***de

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9 Thorneyholme Drive
Knutsford

Website

http://www.ukprobgen.co.uk/

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