Tracing Agency

Dusty_Bin · 8 January 2018 at 2:43PM

I'm trying to track down my late brother's widow.

I believe she remarried so I no longer know her surname, and for certain she has moved from the house she shared with my brother.

It has been suggested to me that I engage the services of a tracing agency, but an online search throws up numerous agencies and I am uncertain which to use.

Does anyone have experience of using one of these tracing agencies, either positive or negative?

Recommendations would be very welcome.

Comms69 · 8 January 2018 at 2:46PM

What's the purpose?

e.g. there's specialist debt tracing agencies. Inheritance tracing agencies. Etc.

lotteryman · 8 January 2018 at 3:19PM

Have you been back to the house where she lived - she may have left a forwarding address or, if the house was sold, you might be able to find out the solicitor who did the work and would probably know a forwarding addess.

hazyjo · 8 January 2018 at 4:42PM

Try the Salvation Army.

My friend is currently looking for her brother who did a disappearing act a number of years ago. I think they told her it could take up to two years if difficult/overseas, otherwise it should be much sooner.

https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/reuniting-families

Dusty_Bin · 8 January 2018 at 5:37PM

The purpose is non-financial, although my family did give my brother's widow a sum of money 15 years ago.

From this she was to pay for the erection of a headstone on my brother's grave. This never happened.

We, as a family, now want to push ahead with this, but as she is the grave owner, only she has the right to do this.

We hope that after all this time, she will allow us to do this, so need to find her to gain her consent.

If she has died, we would also be able to erect a gravestone, but again to establish whether she is still alive we have found impossible, as we don't know her new name.

Help and advice would be much appreciated.

Dusty_Bin · 8 January 2018 at 5:41PM

Re her previous address, we have followed that line of enquiry and the house they both lived in was rented from a landlord who later sold it and furthermore died some years ago himself, so a dead end there.

sheramber · 8 January 2018 at 6:00PM

Have you tried yourself through a family history website?

You can try her maiden name, and first married name name , date of birth etc and search marriage records.You may find something relating to her second marriage.

You can also search for deaths.

That would give you more information to go on and to pass on to a tracing agency if you used one.

Dusty_Bin · 12 January 2018 at 1:14AM

sheramber, we haven't tried a family history website as we know so little about her.

We know she was Karen, but can't remember her maiden name.

She lived with my brother in Cleethorpes, which is probably where they were married, but that could have been in Bradford, which is where she lived before Cleethorpes.

None of us were invited to the wedding and we only met her on the day of my brother's funeral and then again briefly the day after before we had to head home over to Ireland.

We swapped phone numbers but when we rang her several weeks later she told us she had moved on and met someone else and didn't want us to call her again.

No idea where she is now, or even her name. As I said above, she may have died herself by now, we're just so in the dark and looking for help.

Ms_Chocaholic · 12 January 2018 at 1:30AM

Can you obtain a copy of their marriage certificate (if you can remember when and where they got married) and you will then know her maiden name. If it's uncommon you may be able to find her by that.

Was your brother's surname quite common or unusual.

Who registered your brother's death?

Dusty_Bin · 12 January 2018 at 12:16PM

Thanks for that.

Have today applied for a duplicate of his marriage certificate.

Have to wait now for 5 working days.

mpet · 12 January 2018 at 1:52PM

Ancestry.co.uk have births deaths and marriages up to 2005, so it may be worth looking there for a re-marriage.

You could also check 192.com which holds details of electoral registers - you can search for free, but have to pay to see the full details.

Tracing Agency

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free