Finding missing beneficiaries: a guide for executors and administrators

The duty to distribute correctly

Personal representatives collect in the assets, pay the debts and distribute what is left to the people entitled under the will or the intestacy rules. Pay the wrong person, or close the estate without a beneficiary's share reaching them, and you can be personally liable to make it good. The duty is to take steps that are reasonable and proportionate to the value of the share, and to keep a dated record of them, because that record is what an insurer, a solicitor or a court will ask to see.

Section 27 notices: what they do and do not protect against

Section 27 of the Trustee Act 1925 lets personal representatives advertise for creditors and other claimants: a notice in the Gazette and in a local newspaper where the estate includes land, allowing at least two months for claims. Once the period has expired you can distribute having regard only to the claims you have notice of, and you are protected from personal liability to a creditor or claimant who turns up later, who keeps only the right to follow the assets into the hands of whoever received them.

The limit is in the wording. The protection covers people of whose claim you had no notice. A beneficiary named in the will, or a relative you know is entitled on an intestacy, is someone you have notice of, so advertising does not discharge the duty to find them. Place the notice anyway, but a known and missing beneficiary needs one of the routes below.

Reasonable steps to find a beneficiary

Start with what the deceased left behind, and write down every step with its date.

• The will file and any letter of wishes, which often record an address and a relationship.
• The deceased's address book, phone, correspondence and card list, and the funeral guests.
• Other family and friends, who often know the town or the married name.
• A letter to the last known address asking the current occupant to forward it.
• The public companies register, if the person has ever run a company.

If those steps fail, a professional trace is the next reasonable step and normally a proper expense of the estate.

When a beneficiary still cannot be found

Established routes exist for closing an estate without leaving the personal representatives exposed, and all of them expect evidence of the search.

• Missing beneficiary indemnity insurance. A policy, usually paid for from the estate, covering the personal representatives and the other beneficiaries if the missing person later appears. Normally the quickest and most proportionate option for a modest share.
• A Benjamin order. Court permission to distribute on a stated assumption, for example that the missing beneficiary died before the deceased. It protects the personal representatives but not those who received the share, and it costs more than insurance, so it suits larger shares.
• Paying the share into court. The Trustee Act allows money to be paid into court where a beneficiary cannot be found, so the share is held for them and the estate can be finalised.

A probate solicitor can advise on which route fits the value of the share; our page for solicitors explains how firms instruct us.

How a professional trace helps, and what it delivers

We cross-reference more than 150 sources, registers and records, and a private investigator checks and verifies the result. You receive a dated report giving the beneficiary's current registered UK address and a confidence rating: Confirmed means two or more independent current sources agree, Probable means strong evidence from one current source with supporting indicators, and Possible means the best available lead. The address is where the person is currently registered according to the records, which in the great majority of cases is where they live, and the report goes on the estate file as evidence of the search. If the evidence shows the beneficiary has died or moved abroad, we tell you what we established and there is no charge for the UK trace; if we cannot find them at all, you pay nothing.

Unknown or estranged relatives on an intestacy

Where there is no valid will, the Administration of Estates Act 1925 sets out a fixed order in which relatives inherit in England and Wales: a spouse or civil partner and children first, then parents, siblings and their descendants, half-siblings, grandparents, and aunts and uncles and their descendants. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own succession legislation. Entitlement does not depend on how close the relationship was, so an estranged sibling or a cousin the deceased never met is still owed their share. Establishing who is entitled is genealogical work; finding where an identified person lives now is a trace, and we do the second.

Sensitivity, and who makes the first approach

A letter from a stranger announcing a death and an inheritance can land badly: the person may have been estranged for a painful reason, or may assume it is a scam. Write plainly on headed paper, explain your role, name the deceased and the relationship, invite them to verify you through a solicitor or the probate registry, and do not ask for bank details in the first letter. If you would rather they heard from you before any address changes hands, we can trace the beneficiary, pass on your letter and share the address only if they agree, the consent-based approach we use for personal reconnections. More on the find a beneficiary page.

What to give the tracer

The minimum is the person's full legal name plus at least one of a date of birth or a previous address. Former and married names, an approximate age, the last address you have and when it was current, the relationship to the deceased, the names of close family, and any suggestion they moved abroad all shorten the work and raise the confidence rating. We may ask you to confirm your role before releasing a result.

Checklist for executors

1. List every beneficiary under the will or the intestacy rules, with a last known address for each.
2. Place a section 27 notice and diarise the two-month date.
3. Work through the deceased's papers, family and friends, write to the last known address, and keep a dated log.
4. Instruct a trace for anyone still missing, and decide who makes the first approach.
5. If the trace ends without a result, take advice on insurance, a Benjamin order or payment into court.

When to instruct a professional trace

Instruct once the papers and the family have been asked and a named beneficiary is still missing, and before you pay for insurance or a court application, because both will ask what searches were made. A Standard trace is £150 in 3 to 5 working days; Priority is £200 within 2 to 3 working days. Nothing is charged unless we deliver a current registered address, and a Possible result is offered at half price. Instruct online now.