Assisting Professional Deputies

Genealogical research is often associated solely with inheritance and probate matters, but its value extends far beyond this. For Court of Protection solicitors and professional deputies, genealogical expertise can be indispensable in helping deliver the highest standard of care for clients lacking mental capacity.

At Anglia Research, we regularly work with legal professionals and deputies appointed by the Court of Protection to provide timely, accurate and discreet research that informs key decisions and court applications. Whilst statutory will research is a vital part of our service offering, our support covers a far wider range of Court of Protection-related matters.

The Role of Genealogical Research in Court of Protection Cases

Court of Protection clients (commonly referred to as ‘P’) may be unable to provide any reliable information about their family relationships or financial affairs. In such cases, deputies and solicitors rely on expert genealogical research to assist with:

– Locating P’s family members or close connections
– Verifying or building family trees
– Conducting background research for statutory will applications
– Performing UK-based asset and liability searches

Locating Family

Families can become estranged for many reasons and reconnecting them can have emotional and legal importance. When deputies seek to locate P’s relatives, especially in urgent or sensitive situations (such as rapidly declining health), time is critical. Our researchers are experts at tracing living family members not just in the UK but around the world.

Family Tree Verification

In many cases, P may not be able to confirm the identities of family members or provide accurate information. We help verify existing family trees or build them from scratch, ensuring the legal framework around P’s situation is built on solid foundations. This process can help avoid complications and disputes further down the road.

Statutory Will Research

A statutory will is created for someone who lacks the mental capacity to make their own and our assistance here can be crucial.

When applying a statutory will through the Court of Protection, the applicant must provide:

– A detailed family tree, including full names and dates of birth
– Full names and current addresses of any existing or prospective beneficiaries affected by the application (more information can be found below).

This research must be conducted discreetly—without alerting the individuals involved. Our team ensures this work is completed to the highest standards of confidentiality, accuracy, and professionalism, giving deputies the confidence to progress their application.

See “More Information on Statutory Wills” below.

Financial Asset and Liability Searches

Professional deputies can often begin their role with little or no knowledge of a client’s financial affairs, so it’s essential to establish a complete picture of P’s assets and liabilities.

Through our partnership with Estatesearch, we offer comprehensive financial asset searches via our secure online portal – delivering key insights into P’s financial position, quickly and reliably.

Supporting the Court of Protection Community

Our work brings us into close contact with Court of Protection professionals across the country. As proud corporate members of the Professional Deputies Forum, we regularly attend and speak at industry events, offering practical insights into how genealogical services can support deputies in real-world scenarios.

Whether you’re preparing a statutory will application, verifying a family connection, or untangling a complex financial situation, we’re here to assist.

How Can We Help?

To discuss how our specialist Court of Protection services can support your work, whether through family tracing, asset searches, or statutory will research, please get in touch with our expert team.

More Information on Statutory Wills

When filling in Court of Protection statutory will application forms, the applicant must supply:

• the family details of the person to whom it applies (these details must include full names and dates of birth of next of kin, and should be presented in the form of a family tree),
• the full names and addresses of any existing or prospective beneficiaries who will be affected by the application (where no will already exists, these prospective beneficiaries are the person’s next of kin, who would normally inherit their estate through the laws of intestacy).

Court appointed deputies, attorneys and guardians frequently ask us to find contact details for named and unnamed beneficiaries, and to conduct the genealogical research necessary to draw up a family tree so that they can complete the supporting documents that must accompany a statutory will application to the Court of Protection.

Needless to say, we carry out our genealogical research for statutory wills with the greatest level of tact and sensitivity.

 

This is an area in which we have a great deal of expertise. We understand that there is often a need for discretion, and that frequently our research must be completed within very tight deadlines. To learn more about our work, please read our case histories.

 

Who can make a statutory will application to the Court of Protection?

A statutory will is a will made on behalf of someone who lacks the mental capacity to make one for themselves. This type of will is drawn up and approved following an application to the Court of Protection.

In the case of someone who has made a lasting power of attorney, or an enduring power of attorney and subsequently loses testamentary capacity, perhaps as a result of dementia, the application will be made by their attorney.

However, when no attorney has been appointed, or when the attorney is unable or unwilling to fulfil their role, the Court will appoint a deputy to manage the person’s affairs and it will fall to the deputy to make the application.

Attorneys and deputies can be legal professionals such as solicitors and legal executives, or lay people such as relatives and friends. Whichever category you fall into, we are here to help and advise you.

When are statutory wills needed?

There are many reasons for making a statutory will, the most obvious being that no will currently exists.

However, even when a will does exist, it may have to be replaced if the testator’s circumstances have changed significantly.

For example, the estate may have increased in value as the result of a compensation claim, or it may have decreased due to the cost of care; one of the beneficiaries named in the will may have died, or an asset, specified as a gift in the current will, may have been sold to pay for care – in which case the will may need to be changed to compensate the specified legatee.

Filling in the statutory will forms

Statutory will application forms require information about anyone likely to be materially affected by a change to the will or by the drawing up of a statutory will. This includes:

• any beneficiary under an existing will or codicil who is likely to be materially or adversely affected by an application to change the will,
• any beneficiary under a proposed will or codicil who is likely to be materially or adversely affected by the application,
• any prospective beneficiary under any intestacy of the person to whom the application relates.

At Anglia Research we are aware of the sensitive nature of statutory will research, and we are used to conducting our investigations without making contact with any of the relevant parties.

 

We can provide you with the genealogical evidence you need to fill out the family details section of the form, as well as with the current contact details for any existing or prospective beneficiaries likely to be affected by the application.

 

For more information, advice or a quotation on how can support a statutory will application, please contact us.

Learn more about our work

Applying to the Court of Protection to change an existing will

Sometimes deputies or attorneys apply to change a will on a client’s behalf because the value of the client’s estate has changed dramatically.

This was the case with Sarah Whaites. Her estate had been significantly reduced due to the cost of her care following a serious accident, and the will that she had made 30 years earlier had to be changed to reflect this.

One of the beneficiaries named in the original will was Jane Smith, a name that none of Sarah’s family had heard of.

 

At Anglia Research we pride ourselves on our ability to find current contact details for people named in wills made long ago and whose names mean nothing to close family members.

 

When I took the case on, I started from the premise that if Sarah’s family did not know Jane, she must have been a friend of her youth, either through school, work, a social club, or because she was a neighbour.

Fortunately, Sarah had spent much of her early life at one address, so I turned to the electoral rolls to see who lived nearby. There was a Smith family next door, and genealogical research showed that they had a daughter Jane – too young to be on the electoral roll, but of a similar age to Sarah.

I tracked Jane down through her marriage and other records. Sarah’s deputy was happy for me to make contact, and it turned out that the two women had been best friends at school but had lost contact with each other in their late teens. As a result, the solicitor was able to negotiate with Jane to change the bequest so that a new statutory will could be drawn up that better reflected the size of the estate.

Locating relatives likely to be affected by a statutory will application

Bill Johnson was under a deputyship order and lived in a care home. Although he had never made a will, he wanted to leave his estate to the Army Benevolent Fund because army charities had helped look after him.

Since this had long been his stated aim, his deputy (who was a solicitor) decided to make a statutory will respecting his wishes.

To do this, the deputy had to identify Bill’s nearest kin, who would be his prospective beneficiaries if he died intestate. It was known that Bill had been married and his wife had died without having children, but Bill insisted that he had been married twice. No one knew anything about this second wife. Although Bill was visited every few months by a noticeably tall lady, she was believed to be a cousin.

I was instructed to establish whether or not Bill had married twice and to provide his family tree, along with contact details for all his cousins.

My research established that Bill had married only once and that he had 23 cousins. More importantly, in terms of the statutory will, I discovered that he had had three siblings, all of whom had predeceased him, and two surviving nieces – one of whom was rather tall!

The research results meant that the solicitor could focus on negotiating with Bill’s nieces, as well as being satisfied that there was no spouse likely to make a sudden appearance.

(For reasons of confidentiality, names and other identifying features have been altered.)