Yes there can be. The cost of birth, marriage and death certificates that are needed to provide evidence. The cost of these varies according to type and the country in which the event was registered. It helps if you already have certificates for your most recent ancestors,  ie parents, grandparents and siblings. And, of course, your own.

Other records that may incur additional costs are some military records and wills not available online. We will always explain why records are required and the costs involved. We will not order any documents without your agreement.

Providing reliable information is key to what we do.

There can rarely be absolute certainty about the information found about your ancestors, but we take very seriously our responsibility to provide as accurate information as is possible from the records available. We will not guess or assume relationships. We seek evidence and at the core of what we do is the Genealogical Proof Standard. You may wish to read the article in our blog about the nature of genealogical records . Our aim is to get as close as possible to the primary source of information

We only keep your details for as long as we have a working relationship. These comprise the minimum needed to keep in contact with you for the duration of our relationship. We will not share you information with third parties.

See more about this on our privacy policy.

A variety of TV programmes and rapidly expanding online resources have encouraged interest in genealogy and family history.

Many of us are intrigued and want to know more about our ancestors. What did they do?  Where did they live? How did they live? Did they have money? If they did what happened to it? Were there criminals in my family? Were they famous or notorious?

For this type of research it is common is to quote a price for a project. For example, a package of research might be a four-generation report for one person with a fixed price. For the client that can be rather frustrating since it can leave unanswered questions followed by the need for another proposal and another quote for a fixed charge. The alternative is an hourly rate, but the nature of research makes it is impossible to say in advance how long things will take and it is unlikely to be a satisfactory approach in many circumstances.

Where time is of the essence, in cases of probate and inheritance for example, this is probably the best option but for general family history there is a better way that is fairer to both the client and the professional genealogist.

That is with a monthly subscription. You will be able to stop the subscription at any time. If we feel we have reached the end of the road – or perhaps top of the tree with a line of enquiry we will tell you and will stop taking payments.