Illegitimate Births, Please can anyone help?!

Hello,
I was hoping that I could have some guidance on a case that I am currently working on. The relatives of the deceased are descended from those of illegitimate births. The beneficiary's grandmother, who was a sister of the deceased, did not have a father on her birth certificate, nor did her mother on hers. However, when both the grandmother and great grandmother finally did settle down into marriage, miraculously, they had fathers as they were listed on their marriage certificates! I do realise that people embellished information to preserve family propriety, however, they definitely did not have fathers on their birth certificates. Moreover, the grandmother of the beneficiary suddenly acquired a middle name on her marriage certificate as well! She was not given a middle name on her birth certificate.
Could a presentation of this case to the Treasury possibly go awry or do we have any chance of this going forward?
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you

Heather   

Hi Heather,

Happy New Year ..

Did the beneficiary have any full blood siblings? If they did then the descendants from the half-blood sister would not be entitled unless the full-blood siblings lines all died out.

The fact that a middle name appears in the grandmothers name may be a problem unless you can prove where the middle name comes from. i.e. a parents maiden name

If you can find another line to use to present to the treasury it may be easier, if not try and give them as much extra proof as you can, if your beneficiary knew the deceased or knew of them tell the treasury what they know, it may help but it won't do any harm

Shirley x

You have to go with the birth certs and not the marriage certs. The question is are you sure that the marriage you have is correct for the deceased? Yes the treasury could get awry but if you put together the family tree and explain in the accompanying letter what you have here they will look at it and reach a decision. If they turn you down they will explain why and then you can look at the reasons and decide a formula for obtaining the estate on behalf of your client.

I am sure the treasury will understand the situation as it isn't that uncommon..

Rob

Thank you both for the help. There were no full blood siblings of the deceased, she was an only child. The potential beneficiaries are descendants from the mother of the deceased (aunt). The deceased never married, the marriage certificates were for the aunt and the mother of the deceased. The birth certificates are straight forward, no fathers listed and the aunt and mother of the deceased share the same mother. It just went a little funny when these ladies got married as they suddenly had fathers.

Thank you again

Heather   

I have been successful in proving the lineage on some deceased who were born illigitimate but have been unsuccessful on others.  It depends what it says on the birth certificate as to whether you can prove the lineage back through the deceased mother.

On one the certificate shown the child (the deceased) was born at the local police house where she had gone for assistance but unusually it also gave the address not only where the birth took place and where the mother was living but also there was a note as where the mother's family was living at the time and that tied in with the 1911 census.  Admin was granted to us without a problem.

If you can provide some corroboration to what you submit the chances are that you will get it through.

If you cannot provide any corroboration then they are just as likely to dismiss your claim.

In another case the Mother (a) of the deceased was brought up by her grandfather as her mother was unmarried at the time of her birth. Her mother (b) later married and had several other children.

When mother (a) married she put her grandfathers name down as father. However the two witness gave their full names and these were the same as two of her half siblings! Also on the 1911 census she was shown with her married name visiting her grandfathers home where she was described as grand daughter.

Claim accepted.  As I said it depends on corroboration.

Unless there is a chance that I can get some corroboration from the census I usually leave the offspring of unmarried mothers alone.

William William
UK Probate Research