The search for beneficiaries…

Little did we realise quite how urgently our help was needed when we first started talking to Mrs Brown. A statutory will had been drawn up for her aunt, Mrs Smith, who had been under the Court of Protection, and who had now passed away.

The will had been drawn up with the intention of allowing Mrs Brown and her sister to inherit Mrs Smith’s estate, although they were not specifically named as beneficiaries. Instead, the will made provisions for the estate to be distributed as if it were an intestacy, since everyone assumed that Mrs Brown and her sister were the only living relatives. A grant had been issued four and a half months previously.

However, an unexpected problem had arisen. Mrs Smith’s statutory will contained a time limitation of six months after the date of the grant for the next of kin to put forward a fully documented claim. Any relatives who had not lodged their claims within this period would lose their entitlement to inherit from the estate under the terms of the will. After the expiration of six months, the executor was to distribute the estate to any relative or relatives who had successfully proved their relationship to the deceased. If nobody had successfully done so, the entire estate would pass to the Crown. The will writer had not envisaged that Mrs Brown would have any problems providing evidence of entitlement when adding this clause in the will.

The complication was that despite the executors having hired a firm to undertake enquires and to assist them, they had been unable to find a birth certificate for Mrs Brown’s mother, whose maiden name was Balkauski. Without the necessary documentation it would be impossible to prove their claim. The executors were clear that their hands were tied. In desperation, with only six weeks left before the deadline, Mrs Brown had gone to her own solicitor to try to find a solution. Fortunately he was able to recommend that she turn to us.

As a firm that specialises in providing services to the legal sector, we do not usually undertake private commissions. Given her circumstances, however, we were prepared to help Mrs Brown.

Since Balkauski was a particularly unusual surname, we decided to immediately embark on a comprehensive birth search to find everyone by that name, or by any similar name. Our huge effort brought us results. We found a Peter Balkausky whose surname differed by only one letter (a ‘y’ instead of an ‘I’ at the end of the name).

Through our interviews with Mr Balkausky and Mrs Brown, we built up a complete picture: they shared the same grandfather, a Lithuanian immigrant who had several children by different mothers. Only three children had survived: the deceased and Mrs Brown’s mother, who were both brought up in an orphanage in Portsmouth, and Peter Balkausky’s father, who had been brought up by an ‘auntie’ in Hull. Their grandfather had changed his name upon entering the UK and Peter Balkausky’s father had also changed the last letter of his surname too, to make it easier for English people to spell. Luckily their names were unusual enough, and their stories overlapped enough, for it to be absolutely certain that this was indeed the same family.

It transpired that Mrs Brown’s mother’s birth had indeed not been registered. However, with sworn affidavits and as many certificates as we were able to find, we were able to prove the entitlement of all three within the strict time limit. A distribution took place two months later.

Column sponsored and compiled by Philippe Fraser of Fraser & Fraser Genealogists and International Probate Researchers. www.fraserandfraser.com