Contingency Fees

The basic principle is: "No result, No fee." We feel that this is the best way of doing business.

Our fee depends on our success in finding heirs, proving their claim and recovering their share in an estate. The fee is a percentage of the amount each heir receives and is deducted by the administrator, then sent to us when the heirs we represent are paid.

The fees cover two major expenses:

1) research costs- which may involve overseas travel, interpreters and hiring specialist investigators
2) administrative fees- birth, marriage & death certificates, naturalisation records, parish records, census material and other evidence used to prove a claim

In the event that we do not find any heirs, then we provide the originator with an affidavit of search at no cost to them.

Other firms may wish to charge fixed hourly rates. We think this is bad for members of the public who are potential beneficiaries for the simple reason that most cases dealt with by the Public Administrator are in the £5,000 - £15,000 range. Therefore, if we spend days, weeks, months, or even years tracing lawful kin, a fixed hourly fee could eliminate any amount left for our beneficiaries. Fixed fees, which we outline below, are only appropriate when we are engaged by a firm of solicitors with a specific and defined task to keep control of costs.

A percentage fee, based on a proportion of the estate value, ensures that the majority of the net estate will be distributed to lawful beneficiaries. Our fees vary, depending on the difficulty of the case, how closely the deceased was related to our heirs, and what we estimate the value of the estate to be. An average industry fee is approximately 25%, but this may be higher or lower depending on the merits of the case. In many cases, the percentage fee is split between two or more firms cooperating together on a case, so this is another factor that determines the size of our fee.

Sometimes a case can cover our costs, or even be profitable, but at other times we could lose money even if we are successful! We bear the risk in every case by taking a contingency fee, whereas a fixed hourly rate shifts the risk to the beneficiary... and we don't think passing that risk to the public is right. 

Fixed Fees

On occasion, in order to facilitate the administration of an estate, a solicitor arranges to pay us a fixed fee for our work. Our work may involve locating a missing individual named in a will, or finding descendents of a missing family branch.

Our fixed fee rates are calculated on an hourly basis, plus direct research costs. However, each search varies in complexity and time so each request has to be negotiated individually. Below is a breakdown of our basic fee structure, but please contact us with your research parameters and we will reply with a quote.

Unfortunately, due to the amount of work that we have, we cannot accept requests for 'Family History' research from members of the public. The reason for this is that we do not want to compromise the quality of our research by taking on work that is not part of our core business. We hope you understand and wish you luck in your research.

-Researcher:               £40 GBP per hour + direct expenses*

-Senior Researcher:     £65 GBP per hour + direct expenses*

-Partner:                     £200 GBP per hour + direct expenses*

*Fixed fee projects will require an advance payment to be held on account. Our fees will be deducted from this client account and any unused funds will be returned.