A very merry Christmas to you all! 2012 has not been an easy year for a lot of people but we wish everybody a happy, peaceful, healthy and prosperous 2013. We would like to thank all of the beneficiaries who engaged us to prove their claims and also the solicitors and estate practitioners who have instructed us to resolve their estates. We look forward to being of service to you again in the near future.

For many of us, Christmas is a time when we receive cards from family and friends that we do not see as often as we would like. It’s the nature of our society that some families are separated by circumstances, such as work or relationships taking us away from where we grew up. It can also be a poignant time when we reflect and think back to childhood, and remember family who are no longer with us. These are understandably feelings that we encounter from time to time when we speak to beneficiaries, especially if we have had to break the sad news of the death of a relative. Indeed, we are always mindful that although any case we deal with concerns an intestate estate or other legal entitlement, it also involves a person who has passed away leaving family, often quite distantly related but perhaps close personally in the past.

There is never an ideal way to convey news of the death of a relative and every situation is different, but we take pride in our professional and sensitive approach. In particular, we would only in the rarest of circumstances ‘cold call’ a potential beneficiary in person at their home and we know that many people are now quite rightly wary of businesses taking such an approach. We do however also have to take care that we are contacting the correct family, especially when the names we are researching are common, and sometimes we may have to contact a potential heir speculatively by telephone or letter. In these situations, we cannot reveal too many details of the matter we are researching until we are sure that we have traced the correct person.

If we have contacted you by letter or have left a telephone message for you to call in, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will always return your call if you wish, saving your phone bill, and we would be pleased to answer any questions you have concerning the person who has died, the entitled family, the estate concerned and our involvement in the matter. We will also acknowledge all emails sent to our company contact address within twenty-four hours during the working week. We are a small and friendly company and our case managers have lots of experience in dealing with sensitive probate matters.

Please note that both our Tunbridge Wells and Liverpool offices will close this year at 1pm on Christmas Eve. Our Liverpool office will remain closed over Christmas but our Tunbridge Wells office will operate with a ‘skeleton staff’ (closing at 1pm on New Year’s Eve). We re-open fully at 9am on Wednesday 2nd January 2013. Once more, we wish you compliments of the festive season from all at Martlets!