Locating missing heirs and legatees

We are experts in locating missing beneficiaries. We can help whether you are looking for one missing legatee or need to locate all the heirs on a complicated intestacy.

We have 15 years’ experience of locating missing beneficiaries in the United Kingdom and overseas.

Where the deceased has died testate there may be one or more legatees whose whereabouts have become unknown during the period since the will was written. We can assist you in locating these people, or those persons entitled to benefit should the intended legatee have died.

In most cases, we are able to cap our fee for tracing missing UK legatees.

Where there is no will, we can identify and locate the heirs entitled on intestacy. This ranges from tracing a single missing heir to identifying all the heirs on a complicated intestacy and all eventualities in between.

We are able to identify the heirs should an intestacy arise through the partial failure of a will or trust.

We can also assist in locating people for other reasons. For example, we will search for missing executors, trustees, freeholders etc.

Pricing information for locating missing heirs

Time and expenses – £95 per hour

• A budget is agreed at the outset.
• We report back to our client on the conclusion or maximum progress made within the agreed budget.
• Unless otherwise stated we always aim to quote to complete the investigation in one stage.
• Time savings are reflected in our invoice.
• Factors affecting cost include the size of the family, the surnames involved, emigration, family estrangement etc.
•  Immediate family (spouse, issue, parent, siblings and their issue) – expect range between 3 and 15 hours.
• Uncles and aunts and their issue – expect range between 15 and 50 hours.

Pricing information for locating missing legatees

Dependent on the facts of the case but typically £220, exclusive of VAT and disbursements.