All of our research is carried out with insurance in mind

The often-complex nature of family relationships – when people lose touch or divisions occur – can lead to missing beneficiaries. If you’re presented with a missing beneficiary, it can often be a time-consuming and strenuous task to locate the person. Title Research can take on the responsibility of tracing missing beneficiaries and free up your valuable time for other work.

Saving you a significant amount of time and effort

We understand that finding a missing person can be time-critical and know just where to look and focus our efforts. You and your clients can rely on our years of expertise and experience to find a solution, quickly.

Our specialist team of genealogists can assist in locating missing or unknown people by using multiple approaches and research techniques. We have access to a variety of different records and databases, including:

  • Electoral roll data – both current and historic

  • Birth, marriage and death records

  • Consumer databases

  • Credit reference databases

  • Other genealogical datasets


Limited information

In many cases, we can trace missing beneficiaries from very limited information. If you can provide us with the first name, last name and a previous address of the individual, we can usually begin our research. The search will typically be easier if you also know the missing person’s date of birth. Even without this information, we can normally offer a solution.

Searching the globe

As people are increasingly moving around more and emigrating, we are more frequently finding missing people overseas. We have located beneficiaries in countries you’d expect such as the United States, Canada and Australia, as well as more unusual countries like Swaziland, Thailand and the Philippines. We trace missing or unknown people in most areas of the world and have a team of on-the-ground experts who can assist when local knowledge and language fluency is required.

Guaranteed results

We are committed to completing every case we undertake and in the unlikely event that we can’t trace a missing person, we can help you obtain a quote for Missing Beneficiary Indemnity Insurance. Our research is conducted with insurance in mind and our reports are widely accepted by major insurers.

Locating account holders, clients and property owners

Our searches for missing people expand beyond tracing beneficiaries in estate administration. In addition, we can locate:

  • Account holders

  • Clients

  • Property owners

Case study: Tracing a modern day caveman

When one solicitor approached us for help to locate a missing legatee, all we knew about him was his name and that he was last known to be living in a small town in Spain.

After some initial enquiries, we dispatched our local Spanish researcher to investigate further on the ground. He established that the missing beneficiary was living in a cave in the mountains above the town, visiting every couple of weeks to collect his mail from the post office and to purchase food. Despite his unconventional lifestyle, the solicitor was able to make contact and pay him his legacy in full.

Related services

If you’re searching for missing beneficiaries, you may find these related services useful to resolve complications in estate administration.

Missing beneficiary insurance

Missing Beneficiary Insurance

Protect Personal Representatives from the consequences of missing beneficiaries reappearing at a later date. Mitigate risk and avoid being liable for future claims.

Learn More

 Family Tree Verification

Family Tree Verification

Is it unclear who is due to inherit under the intestacy rules? Reconstruct the family tree to ensure all entitled people are included and unentitled people are excluded.

Learn More

Related content

If you want to find out more about tracing missing beneficiaries, take a look at our useful resources that have been created to help you broaden your knowledge.

Missing beneficiaries blog

Blog: Finding missing beneficiaries

Read about how to successfully trace missing or unknown beneficiaries, what to do if a missing beneficiary can’t be located, and the case study of locating the man in a cave.

Learn More

Missing beneficiaries webinar

Webinar: Missing beneficiaries

Listen as we outline some of the common risks presented to legal professionals when faced with missing beneficiaries and how you can rely on our experience to find a solution.

Learn More

Submit our form to request a free, no-obligation fee estimate: