Tracing Missing Persons

Tracing You Can Trust

When someone drops off the radar, the case grinds to a halt. When you’re working to a court deadline or waiting to distribute an estate, unanswered letters and outdated contacts can disrupt the entire process.

We help solicitors regain traction. Our method, backed by three decades of experience, is designed to identify information you can act on, and we back it up with thorough legal checks and reporting. Law firms instruct us across civil litigation and private client work to trace witnesses, beneficiaries, family members and anyone else needed for legal contact. If a case is sensitive, we handle it with discretion and respect for the privacy of everyone involved.

In many missing person cases, the aim is to re-establish contact safely and with the consent of the person in question. When we find the person, we can make discreet contact on your behalf and give them the choice of whether (and how) to respond, without sharing unnecessary information or putting your firm or your client in a difficult position.

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Where We Come In

For over 30 years, solicitors have instructed our tracing agents to:

• Locate a witness who needs to be contacted for proceedings
• Find a missing beneficiary named in a will, trust or settlement
• Trace a lost family member on behalf of a private client
• Identify a current address for process serving
• Reconnect clients with relatives they have lost touch with
• Move cases forward when they are blocked by unknown locations

If your client has urgent welfare concerns, believes someone is at immediate risk, or the situation involves a high-risk disappearance, the police should always be the first point of contact. Specialist charities can also help in urgent cases, including Missing People and the British Red Cross.

Private individuals cannot instruct a missing person trace directly. If you need to find someone, ask your solicitor to instruct us on your behalf.

More Than an Online Search

Most people can be traced, even when they have taken steps to make themselves difficult to find. Our professional tracers can access resources that aren’t available through public searches or a firm’s own enquiries, and have a rigorous process to confirm identities and locations.

Depending on the case, that might involve checking address-linked information, reviewing records and registers, and confirming links through lawful sources to paint a reliable picture. Once we have a result, we will cross-reference it to confirm accuracy and produce a report for your case file.

Even if your client can only give you a little to go on, we can normally do quite a lot, but we will always be clear with you about what is possible and realistic.

Lawful Tracing, Without Risk to Your Firm

If tracing is overly invasive or badly handled, your firm can end up with unreliable information, a distressed client, or a privacy complaint. We always carry out our services within the legal frameworks that govern personal data and privacy in the UK:

• UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018: There are ethical limits as to how personal data can be processed and shared. For tracing, the lawful basis is usually legitimate interests, meaning there has to be a clear reason for the search and it must be carried out in a proportionate way. We only use permitted sources and keep records of the checks completed, which gives you an audit trail for the file.
• Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR): We cannot use intrusive tactics, deception, or spam to force information out. Our role is simply to lawfully obtain an address, not apply pressure. As such, our enquiries are kept proportionate to the situation, which also abides by the Administration of Justice Act 1970 and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

If you are unsure whether tracing is appropriate for a client’s situation, or the case is sensitive or complex, get in touch. We will advise on our legal limitations and let you know what the most reliable and discreet next step would be.

Results to Rely On

At the end of the trace, you receive a written report that sets out what has been identified and the checks and laws that support it. It is designed to be a valid source of evidence, whether you need to share it with counsel or the other side, or rely on it in court.

For estates, a documented trace also records the searches made when tracing missing beneficiaries. If a beneficiary still cannot be found, that record supports an application for a Benjamin order or for missing beneficiary insurance.

If there is anything that needs caution, such as similar details across more than one person, it will be flagged. A trace is only useful if it is honest about accuracy.

Timeframes and Coverage

By its nature, we cannot guarantee turnaround for tracing; it depends on the quality of the information you start with and how long the person has been missing. More complex cases can take longer, but we will keep you updated if it comes to that. If you are working to a court deadline, tell us at the outset so we can say whether the timescale is realistic. Even if the person has gone abroad, we have international channels and partners to track them down.