When conducting research and forming a family tree for any reason, you might be certain that you’re accurate and have included all members of your family. However, this is often not the case; there are several common reasons why your family tree might be inaccurate. In cases where you need to identify your family tree for inheritance purposes, it's vital that it's accurate to avoid future liability issues. We take a look at these reasons and how you can rule them out to ensure no one is missed or included by mistake in your family tree.
Adoptions
Adopted children have the same rights to their adoptive parents’ estate as biological children. Some of your ancestors may have had children that were put up for adoption and taken out of the family. Similarly, some members of your family may be adopted and not biologically related to their parents. Many people choose to keep their adoption status private and won’t discuss it even with close family members. One way to find out more about potential adopted children is to look at adoption records. A genealogist will have access to these records and the ability to confirm if any family members have been adopted or in or out of the family.
Relatives moving abroad
You might not know if some of your relatives have moved abroad in the past and started a new part of the family. People often lose touch with relatives that have moved abroad to different countries. Tracing these relatives can be a challenge; you might completely discount them if you aren’t aware that they’ve moved. Professionals will check all avenues and make sure no relatives have been discounted, even those that have moved abroad.
Illegitimate births
Another common mistake that can lead to inaccurate family trees is illegitimate births. These are children born outside of marriage. These children could be ignored by the family or lose touch with their biological parents. In the event of a death of a parent with illegitimate children, there is a potential, without proper research, that these children aren’t given a fair portion of the inheritance they are entitled to receive. This can cause issues in the future and even leave the legitimate children personally liable for the money the illegitimate child didn’t receive. A professional family tree check will help to identify any illegitimate births and correct any inaccuracies in the family tree.
Unrelated uncles and aunties
Often in families, you might find people are referred to as uncles or aunties even though they aren’t related biologically. This can cause confusion if it's never explained and they appear to be like any other aunt or uncle. This type of confusion can be uncovered with historical documents such as birth and marriage certificates. It's important to identify biological relations when there is a death, and the person’s estate needs to be split between the relevant heirs. In cases where there is no will, or the will doesn’t identify the beneficiaries by name, genealogists may need to be used to decipher a fully accurate family tree of the deceased.
Family rumours
Some families have rumours of illegitimate children or parents that aren’t biologically related. These rumours need to be investigated in the event of death or when writing a will and the true family tree isn’t clear. Genealogists are used to make sure an estate is divided up correctly and all potential family rumours are investigated. This prevents any issues in the future with disregarded beneficiaries coming forward and making a claim to the estate or the deceased belongings. In addition, missing beneficiary insurance can be purchased to cover this potential situation if there is any uncertainty. The insurance will cover money owed to the unknown beneficiary, allowing the other heirs to keep their portion of the inheritance.
Even in family trees where the lineage appears simple, these common issues can alter who is entitled to inherit money in an estate. Genealogy experts should be used to conduct family tree checks and to identify any inaccuracies with the family tree structure. In many cases where family tree searches are conducted, mistakes are found, and other family members are discovered.
Resources:
- Probate Research - Taiga
- Probate Genealogy - Business.Blog
- Probate Insurance - Telegraph