Tracing relatives you didnt know you had??

[tobeloy]

Because of recent death of our father we have just found out that we have 2 older half brothers from his 1st marriage...we just dont know where to start in tracing them down as the solicitor who is dealing with dads estate says we have to locate them before the estate can be divided between all the children..

The only info we have is his 1st wifes first name and thats it apart from her taking his name when she married him and the sons taking his name we dont have a clue where to start, we are guessing at the year he may have got married only because we are working backwards from the dates of his marriage and divorce from wives 2 and 3...

Has anyone been in a similar position and what did you do, I am going to take a chance of going the local registry office to see if they can give me the marriage certificate but i doubt it due to us not having the date of his marriage, however our surname is quite unique so maybe that will help....any help or suggestions will be appreciated...

[WendyS]

From what you say it sounds as if you father didn't have any contact with his other children for many years and had a complicated personal life. . I should ask your solicitor to put a notice in one of the national papers asking for the children of Mr.xxx yyyy, whose mother's first name was Mary? to come forward. If you can roughly guess the ages of these men now, perhaps these details could be included. Have you tried doing a search for every male with that surname in that possible age group in Friends Reunited. If you think these other children may now be middle aged or over 50, you could try advertising in the Personal Columns of SAGA and Choice magazines which are aimed at that generation. Normally I believe solicitors advertise in the London Gazette for missing relatives to come forward before probate of a Will can go forward. Has you solicitor not done this. Sounds to me like he's being rather lazing and leaving you to do most of the legwork.

[Lou Knee]

try genesconnected.co.uk

[Mads]

Hi there Tobeloy

I've been doing some searching recently myself...

If you have your father's details, like date of birth etc...the Registry office should be able to trace marriage certificates for you, if you have the woman's first name. It should match up on the records.In Scotland to obtain a copy of a birth certificate etc it's �13.50, not sure where you are and whether it'll be the same.

As for your unique surname, try Friends Reunited and search the name. You don't have to know an area, it'll come up with names at difference locations.

You could also try the Salvation Army. I believe they trace people too...

Failing all that, you could try a Private Investigator, who deals with this sort of thing. It might sound a bit extreme, but it'll be worth it to settle the estate.

Good luck...

Mads

[andrew1314]

Hi,

Try using www.1837online.com which gives an index to all birth, deaths & marriages since 1837 to present. You can then obtain the relevant certificates to find names of your half brothers.

Once you have their names, try using www.eroll.co.uk or www.192.com or www.118118.com or similar to track them down.

Good luck.

A