Terms and Conditions

 Price 

I will agree a price with you in advance, whether this is for a set package of research, a number of hours of ad hoc research, travel, or copies of certificates. 

I will ask you to pay a deposit of 10% before commencing work, and the balance of the fee is payable at the end of the work, when I will send you hard copies and/or electronic copies of the documents as appropriate. 

 Research 

Please be aware that I cannot guarantee that information on your family will be available – for example, many Irish records were destroyed in the 1920s, many WWI records no longer exist, or you may have a very popular name that makes it impossible to tell which are your ancestors and which are somebody else’s. To minimise the chances of this happening, I ask you to complete an information sheet which will hopefully give me enough information to narrow down the field of data to be researched. The full fees are payable even if no definitive results are found, but I will give you a full breakdown of the research that I have carried out. 

Please be aware that Civil Registration in England and Wales commenced in 1837 though it was not compulsory until 1875, Civil Registration in Scotland commenced in 1855 and the British Census commenced in 1841. Research before these dates depends on the availability of Parish Records. 

All research is done in good faith, and supporting evidence will be provided where available. Please be aware that the work will often involve an element of judgement, it is not always a precise science. Information provided to registrars, parish clerks and census enumerators by your ancestors may not be true or have been misunderstood or misspelled. My fee covers the time and materials incurred in producing my research. 

I will deal with you and you only for the research. If any living relatives are discovered, I will seek your permission before putting them in touch with you, but I will not discuss my research with them or deal with them in any way unless they contract with me separately. 

 Payment 

Payment can be made by the following methods: 

Cash payment in person 

Direct bank transfer, account details will be provided when required 

Paypal, account details will be provided when required 

 Legal Information 

This document and any correspondence between us, forms the contract between us. 

Your payment of a deposit constitutes acceptance of these terms.