Frequently Asked Questions

We can take payment over the phone on 0845 5190232 and by cheques made payable to Meet The Family Ltd . We can also accept credit and debit card payments through PayPal. We will send you an invoice via email with instructions on how to pay. You do not need to be registered with PayPal to use this facility. If you are outside of the UK then we would recommend payment online as a standard conversion charge is applied to all cheques. Further information on payment options can be found on Our Fees page.

In accordance with the UK Data Protection Act all research conducted by Meet The Family Ltd is held in the strictest confidence. We will never disclose information obtained to any third party without written instruction from the client.

The main sources for research are the Birth Marriage and Death indexes, Census returns and Parish registers. There are many other genealogical sources that we use according to the individual circumstances, such as Service records; Occupational sources and land records etc. We do not routinely look for death records, unless specifically requested in English research, as this can be very time-consuming and does not usually help to establish earlier generations.

If you have a particular interest (such as an ancestor’s military service, or a particular date of death) please make this clear at the outset and we will do our best to find out what you want to know.

In England and Wales most families can be traced back to the start of civil registration in 1837, many to the 1700's and some to the start of parish registers in 1538 and beyond. We would normally expect to trace the family line you choose back several generations, although progress varies depending upon the survival of records, the frequency of occurrence of the surname and mobility of the family.

A full family history can take anything from 3 weeks to a few months to complete, every family is unique. We will always endeavor to complete a client’s research as soon as we possibly can but sometimes external factors – e.g. waiting for official certificates from the government - play a significant part in how long the process will take.

Before commencing your research, we ask that you provide your name, date and place of birth. Many people already have information about their parents and grandparents. Some have even been working on their family tree themselves and have come to us with a specific problem. You DO NOT have to fully complete the Family Tree Chart on our Enquiries page but, whatever information you have, it is vital to provide all that is known to you - however insignificant it may appear to be. In this way you will prevent us from duplicating information that you already know and, more importantly, wasting your money.

We can conduct research in many countries throughout the world. However, as different countries have different record keeping systems, the success of research is varied. If we can’t carry out the research due to the lack of available records then you will be informed and a full refund will be provided where applicable.

In England and Wales, a formal Register of Adoption has been kept since 1927. The Children's Act of 1975 allows an adopted person, if over 18, to apply for their original birth certificate. No one else can do this for them. The certificate enables research to begin on tracing the birth family. In Scotland, adoption has been legally recognised since 1930 and information is supplied to the adopted person, if over 17.

The above information is only applicable if the birth name is unknown. If the birth name is known then we can apply for a certificate.

This is the most common question we receive and the most difficult to answer Every case that we handle is unique and this is the main reason that we don’t offer a package as such. However as a rough guide for UK research, if we are beginning at around 1900, and if research proceeds smoothly, we would expect to discover at least three or four further generations. However, there are many variable factors: some families stayed in the same country parish for generations, others moved around frequently in densely populated cities. Some family’s left better ‘paper trails’ than others!

Upon completion of a client’s research, they will receive a professionally presented family history package, consisting of:

• A full genealogy report & source notes
• Ancestor tree
• Additional descendant trees
• Any certificates acquired during the course of the research

All of the above is inclusive in hourly rate, any additional source notes are the property of the client and will also be sent with the above.