Blanchards is pleased to announce that we are now approved partners of the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE). APSE is a networking community that supports local authorities in improving their services. We look forward to working alongside APSE and its members, sharing our expertise and providing our services.
Who is APSE
APSE works with over 300 councils across the UK, supporting local authorities to improve the services they provide to their communities. When councils need additional support in areas such as policy and practices or frontline services. The APSE network provides access to knowledge, advice and expertise. It also gives councils the opportunity to share information and find practical solutions to common challenges.
APSE Approved Partners can help councils deliver better services by providing additional expertise and solutions. As demands from both government and the public continue to change, using a professional service such as a probate researcher can relieve pressure in unclaimed estates.
How can probate researchers assist the public sector?
Probate researchers can provide valuable support to local authorities when they need to establish who is legally entitled to an estate, identify relatives or trace beneficiaries. Councils handling public health funerals may need assistance in locating next of kin and identifying potential heirs. They may not have the time, resources or specialist expertise required to trace beneficiaries. Probate researchers can relieve this pressure and get in contact with the missing relatives. Probate researchers can also establish whether an estate should be administered under the terms of a will or the rules of intestacy. In cases of intestacy, they can help identify the correct entitled heirs and ensure the estate is distributed accordingly.
Another challenge councils may face is the increasing issue of empty properties. Local authorities across the UK can struggle to trace the owners, heirs or next of kin of properties that have been left empty. If left empty for extended periods, these properties can attract squatters, pests or create wider issues for the surrounding community. Probate researchers such as Blanchards can help councils trace property owners or next of kin. By getting in contact with the next of kin of probate property owners, we can help bring these properties back onto the market and return them to the community.
How Blanchards can help
Blanchards Inheritance is a firm of probate researchers. As an APSE Approved Partner, Blanchards works closely with local authorities and public sector organisations. We identify and trace beneficiaries, locate next of kin, and assist with unclaimed estates.
We also support public sector organisations with empty property services, statutory will research and family tree verification. This helps ensure that complex probate and genealogy cases are handled with confidence and assurance.
Final thoughts
Finding beneficiaries to an estate can be a time-consuming process. Relatives must be identified and informed, and the remaining estate must be distributed to those who are legally entitled to inherit. It is not always easy to determine who is entitled to the estate or to ensure that every possible avenue has been explored when searching for potential beneficiaries. Working with a probate researcher can help councils avoid mistakes and complications later on. For more information on topics like this, please read our other blogs
