Missing Document Service
Missing Document Services
Please note this service is available to the UK legal profession only.
In some cases, there are instances where there are missing probate documents that are required to pursue a claim. We can obtain English & Welsh documents as follows:
- Certificates of Birth, Marriage, Death & Adoption
- Copies of Wills, Grants of Probate or Grants of Letters of Administration
- Copies of Decrees Absolute
- Other documents on request
We can usually provide these for you at cost, depending on the number of documents ordered.
Scottish, Irish, and other Overseas documents can be obtained, but please contact us with details of your requirements and for confirmation of our costs.
Costs & Delivery
The following prices are set by the General Register Office and no mark-up is charged. We do not buy the cheaper ‘short’ certificates.
ALL ORDERS MUST BE PAID FOR IN FULL, IN ADVANCE. Please calculate the costs from the tables below and send your cheque payable to ‘Finders’ to our contact address.
CERTIFICATE / DOCUMENT DELIVERY TIMES – the times quoted below are production times stated by the government departments responsible. We may not receive the document itself until the next working day (subject to the smooth running of the Royal Mail). Please allow a further 4-5 days for delivery to you and ask for the document to be emailed or faxed to you in advance if this helps. Also see our terms & conditions.
Birth / Death / Marriage / Adoption (Certified Copies)
| Delivery Option | Time | Cost (ex. Service Charge) |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 5 working days | £11 each |
| Priority | 2 working days | £35 each |
Decree Absolute (Certified Copies)
| Option | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| When court, case number and date of divorce are known | 14 - 28 days see notes below | £15 |
| When court is known but not case number or date of divorce. They will search a requested ten year period | 14 - 28 days see notes below | £45 |
| When court, date and case number is unknown. The Central Family Court will search all Courts in England and Wales over a requested ten year period. | 14 - 28 days see notes below | £65 |
Please note that in some cases, due to the merging and/or dissolution of some Courts, the £45.00 option will not be possible if the Court no longer holds documents for that period. In these instances we would only be able to request the Central Family Court perform their £65.00 search.
If no trace of the document is found by the Central Family Court through their £65.00 search, the price cannot be refunded and another payment for a further search would be required. We would not proceed without consulting you first
Wills and Grants of Probate (Certified Copies)
| Time | Cost |
|---|---|
| 1-2 weeks | £1.50 |
There is no priority service and “the government department responsible for the production of these documents are at present not committing to a time-frame for the production of said document, however from experience these can take between 1-2 weeks to be delivered to us”.
Service Charges
A service charge is added depending on the number of documents you order:
| Number of Simultaneous Documents | Service Charge |
|---|---|
| 1 - 3 | £75.00 + VAT |
| 4 - 6 | £150 + VAT |
| 7 - 10 | £175 + VAT |
| 10+ | Please contact us. Please note, If any company or individual orders in excess of 10 documents at any time, Finders reserve the right to apply a Service Charge at a rate of £40 + VAT per document ordered (+ fee for the document re-charged at cost). |
Notes
Copies of Decrees Absolute – These are filed by Case Number and we cannot search the registers ourselves. If you know the Case Number you may receive a copy earlier than if you do not. If you do not know the Case Number (& even if you know the date of Divorce and both parties names) 14-28 day service. The government department responsible are at present not committing to a time period for production of documents. We only supply copies issued by official government sources.