We don't do wills well in our family. Genealogists to the rescue!

Good afternoon Robyn, Unfortunately we have received a Requisition from the Court with respect to your application. Essentially, the Court requires certified copies of all death and birth certificates to be annexed to the Affidavit and some new Certificates. I have drafted a fresh Affidavit for you to have a look at which details which documents we need.

The background story to this is that I'm the executor of my aunt's will or should be. Despite holding two copies of her will, we can't find the original. I had thoughts there could be a problem when I was given her daughter's copy when she predeceased her mum. I had also taken over her guardianship due to dementia. I could hardly claim she was of “sound mind and body” and had her will rewritten.

It was the most basic of wills. Bought as a will kit from the newsagent with photocopies shared with her now deceased daughter to use for herself. Hence, it was no longer on the original green paper. She had made it at the age of 86- her first will. And her now deceased daughter made one around the same time.

She left everything to me in the event of her daughter's death. I was entrusted as the remaining executor and default beneficiary with the verbal instructions to distribute the funds to various relatives. Two of her elderly cousins had witnessed it and shared those instructions with me also. So upon my aunt's death 18 months ago, I became beneficiary and executor according to the intended will. Not a great amount but a worthy legacy.

Alas she was declared intestate.

Both copies of the will had "copy" on them

Without the original will, I had to apply with my cousin's and siblings consent to be the Administrator of the will.

Hint  Get a valid will, lodge it with a solicitor and update it regularly. Or use the bank because copies of the will don't count and papers go missing during removals or clean up or transfer to a nursing home etc. Believe me the will has been held up to the light and been fingered for indentations. Besides the solicitors claiming her will was maliciously destroyed, a term I objected to, it’s been a whole lot of bother. I feel that in all her moves from home to respite care to nursing home, the original papers have gone missing or been misplaced. It is regarded as reckless destruction of the will and at the very least makes the deceased intestate. We just had to apply for me to be the Administrator.

That was over a year ago. Probate, funerals and burials need to be paid for in the mean time so you can be out of pocket with the expenses while you wait to have monies released from the estate. A word of caution here, when you die intestate or with an invalid will in New South Wales, the Successions Act 2006 comes into play with a legislated set of rules for distribution. It gives shares to all and sundry and not as just to you may be thinking. If an eligible relative has passed it goes to their children as beneficiaries and possibly their children's children. Everything needs to be proved and double checked, certified and legitimised. It’s worse if there have been divorces and accumulates with the intervening deaths in the family and goes back through records for decades.

I have spent the last year and a half drawing family trees for the solicitor, proving deaths and providing birth certificates, correcting discrepancies between the facts and what someone wrote on births, deaths and marriage certificates. Note these should be certified because they don't accept ones you've lifted off an ancestry site. At the last toll we had supplied over 25 certificates, 8 drivers licenses and other personal documents.

This family historian provided lots of old copies and even the divorce affidavits to prove relationships. The solicitor was impressed but not the NSW Supreme Court Registrar. Still a year later I'm providing birth certificates for my mother (who died thirty years ago) to prove she is the last sibling of my aunt and death certificates for my  grandparents who died nearly 70 years ago.

It's as though we started a conspiracy 100 years ago to try and rip off my auntie when she dies in 2022. Some of the people inheriting have never even met my aunt. But anyway we all know as genealogists that death certificates are only as good as the information that is supplied. When it came down to it, marriage certificates are only as good as the information that is supplied not to mention information on birth and death certificates as well.

                            We have a history of will problems in our family. 

I do not trust the public trustee. No great advice there. No, you can't leave your property to various cousins and children and not include your wife! With my grandfather, he thought he could with all the best intentions to protect a spendthrift second wife. No, you can't direct your children and  some grandchildren, including minors, to keep the house repaired for as long as she lives. My grandfather's will was a mess, unevenly distributed and unfair. It created ill will in the family and a nasty legal fight. In the end, what he he had tried to protect her from was straightened out by the courts. His spendthrift second wife got all the money, sold the house and frittered it away. 

At least we have moved away from the days of keeping all the finances from your wife. My uncle's will was quite possibly left with a Freemason friend. It never surfaced and I can't imagine the trouble that went on there and how the house and bank accounts were transferred to his wife. (The subject of the missing will I'm currently working on. Sometimes we never learn.) 

Protect the remaining live dependents. Make a will when your partner dies straight away. Especially if her kids may be entitled to the house they live in when you suddenly drop dead. Lack of a valid will does not protect unrelated step kids and your brother in America may be entitled to the house under the Successions Act and not the person you intended. Make guardianship directions for children left behind, ASAP. It stops the authorities getting involved and family squabbles.

Another childless man in Scotland left a generous amount. Solicitors did find family trees, leading through cousins, second cousins and further. It was complicated by stage names and some incorrect information about who was a cousin. Eventually the rightful beneficiaries were found but it wasn’t us. I bet the solicitors used up all the funds in genealogists fees. Being in the 70s and spanning across several countries, this could have been a lengthy process.

This letter, a genealogist's gift was in reply to a search for beneficiaries from a Scottish intestacy

I found a missing inheritance for a distant relative after tracing an little known cousin. A man who had read my blog contacted me, knew this childless person and said there were possessions locked up in the Bank of England and a notice of the will was found. Unfortunately I was about 10 years too late as under Scottish law the money goes into consolidated revenue after 5 years.

A relative did a lot of work looking for lost money

I have a fifth cousin who is quite obsessed with lost fortunes or  inheritances. His father had started him on the quest in the 1950s. They even have a copy of my 4x great grand father's disputed will. He was written out.  The Strelleys  left long and complicated wills which were further complicated by emigration to the colonies of Western Australia in the 1830s. In the dispute over wills, William Edward Strelley Harris was still sorting out the problem in the 1880s after his great-grandfather had passed away in 1820s. In the long protracted case of settling the will for Robert Strelley, it was still going on in 1880s. William Edward Strelley Harris, a grandchild, was called upon to return from Western Australia to England. He stayed in England fixing things up for a number of years.

He was aged 78 by this stage and met and married a young woman while there. He returned to Australia, sired two children and died less than five years after marrying. Can you imagine the outrage that he had left the family fortune to a new wife of two young children who subsequently  married again and had more kids? To make matter worse his infant son died and it looks like it took from 1902 till 1928 to sort that one out.

Things can take a while to unravel - 26 years

 

 

 

At last the Supreme Court of NSW is happy and I’m granted the right to Administer my Aunt’s will. Financial institutions and their rules are my next stumbling block. They want more documentation provided from the solicitors and the Supreme Court. Everyone is wary of the new electronic lodgement and communication.  Once sorted, Westpac Bank has another little hissy fit . The copy of my driver’s licence which I supplied months ago is now out of date because it expired a few days ago….. Next step is applying for an estate tax file number – seems things have dragged on so long the interest rates on the repayment of the nursing home bond have tipped us over the tax free threshold.

 

Here are some tips for writing a will in NSW:

1. Appoint an executor. Always  choose  someone trustworthy to manage your estate.

2. List assets and beneficiaries. Clearly outline “who gets what”.

3. Consider guardianship: If you have children who are minors ensure you  appoint a guardian.

4. Sign and date the document. Ensure two independent witnesses sign and date the will.

5. Update the will regularly: Review and revise your will every 5-10 years or when circumstances change eg births, divorces, remarriage etc.

6. Seek legal advice by  consulting a solicitor to ensure validity and compliance with NSW laws. Personalised guidance is essential.

7. Store safely: Keep the original will in a secure location, like a lawyer's office, the bank or safe.

8. Consider a testamentary trust  asset protection and tax benefits.

9. Be specific, avoid vague terms and ensure clear instructions.

10. This is a good time and place  to include funeral wishes and give your preferences for funeral arrangements.

Remember, a valid will ensures your wishes are respected. If you die without a will (intestate), your estate is distributed according to NSW Successions Act or other State Laws as applicable, which may not align with your desires.  

While you are at it -do your Power of Attorneys and Enduring Guardianship too.

 

How's this for a will? Too bad she was 50 years younger than him- there were eyebrows raised

 

 

Tips on Connecting for an International Genealogical Research Project - A Covid research project

Researching Family History is a lovely project but it is often isolated and lonely. Collaboration is “more funner” especially during a covid pandemic. At the beginning of Covid I was approached to contribute to research on a prisoner of war (POW) escape project. The initial group comprised of men and women from the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Four people who had had grandparents or relatives in this event at Schweidnitz POW camp in Poland in WWI had started researching the circumstances and events. I was contacted due to a blog I had written on a third cousin Mark Strelley Fryar about the project. Even though my connection to this event was via a WWI British soldier, I felt I could get my teeth into the Aussie side of things as there were 6 Australian soldiers and Flyers involved in the escape.

Ruve's desk and her memorabilia

Since then (mostly throughout COVID lockdowns and isolation) five of us along with other interested parties have followed up on a World War I tunnel escape of 26 prisoners of war from Schweidnitz on 17^th March 1918. It was important to contact the “holders” of any hundred-year-old letters, photos, documents and memoirs. Usually these would be in the hands of aging children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. 

This is a little-known Prisoner of War escape story where British, New Zealand, Canadian and Australian officers who have been shot down or captured during their time in the RAF, AIF, infantry or Merchant Navy. They had generally escaped their way out of other camps into Schweidnitz Prisoner of War camp where the last of their daring escape plans was hatched and carried out in March 1918 The men were relatives of the researchers and throughout research and writing, we connected and pulled our knowledge and resources. The combined story is amazing.

Along the way we attracted photos, stories, records and memoirs from some other relatives who were glad to share and for us to go for it.  We were lucky enough to score some personal memoirs, letters, anecdotes, scrapbooks and articles. Basically, we were looking for “the last man standing” in each family- the keeper of the medals, facts, photos etc for men who fought over 100 years ago.

The results of a group search collaboration are fun. The combined skills produce a result, far larger than the sum of its parts.  Think about the synergy of many heads in such a diverse team. Some are fantastic communicators where personal Ancestry messages or emails to strangers are well received and often fruitful. Others are lateral thinkers and approach a problem in a more productive way.                               In other words, we all went down different rabbit holes. Of course, it helps to have a devil’s advocate to cast an eye over findings, to question or query assumptions.

The ability to access local research or different subscriptions add to the knowledge and scope of information found. For example, we discovered National Archives were free in the UK during and after Covid. We could all access up to the quota. Lots of research and Australian and New Zealand records are free to use and search especially war records and newspapers. Knowledge of this improved our chances of finding all that we needed.

Our inboxes were always dinging with correspondence. After all we were operating in at least 4 time zones. Files and comments were flying everywhere. We needed a system of organisation and storage.

Template for storage of files for each person on Dropbox

We used a cloud system called Dropbox to collate all our files. Everyone can access the team content through a single site. After an email had been circulated to all members with new information or files correspondence was summarised and files sorted in a systematic way on Dropbox.

We developed a standardised format for collecting and filed it on the Dropbox account based on this template. Occasionally we had to cull because of storage limitations, but it was okay because we had usually saved it to our own personal computers also.   Files and photos all in one easily accessible space – easily saved to our own systems too. Soon it was filled with the fruits of our research.

We were systematic in collating our research -Claude Asquith Captivity and photos

Similarly, on your own Personal computer be systematic with naming the files and storing them. A major folder called for example POW Project is ideal. Separate folders within this folder for each man eg Mark Strelley Fryar or possible general topics such as camp life. Separate out the other information into subfiles for each person eg Mark Strelley Fryar photos, war records, capture,  Red Cross records, repatriation.

One of our team was a wonderful “spreadsheeter”. Soon we had information about all the POWs coming in an out of prisons, the length of their stays, matching record numbers and photos in colour-coded spreadsheets.

An original spreadsheet of the escapees

An historian had already started off some Family trees for the men and I used my Ancestry account for tracing all the POW families of men in the escape sharing the links so others could access, add, and refer to information at will. We populated it with genealogical information, photos and records. As the number of stories expanded so too did the number of people being researched. It was all so interesting. My tree had all the men in one single tree but as several disconnected family groups. The tree was named after the Schweidnitz POW Camp.  Contact information was included to catch anyone who stumbled upon our main men. Hopefully they would have their interest peeked and they would make contact. A bonus is the Ancestry “tree hints” which attract others to us and provide information to us through their algorithms.

Murphy's family details on a tree up loaded to Ancestry to share

 Naturally, being during Covid, we were unable to face-to-face to communicate (I could easily have jumped on a plane and visited in a different time). We became experts at Messenger video chats and found that we could have very productive meetings and gatherings if we chose 7.00 am Australian time to converse.  In that time frame business was discussed with either a nighttime aperitif in England, a red wine in Canada or a breakfast or morning coffee in Australia and New Zealand. It was great to chat and touch base with one another individually or in a group from time to time, especially at Christmas. 

A 4 timezone catch up with and without alcoholic beverages!

 

Besides sharing via the Ancestry tree, I wanted to share our stories.

Schweidnitz  POW Camp Escapes and Escapades https://schweidnitzpowcampwwi.blogspot.com

We used the blog to get out our research story into a wider open public arena.  The Blog would end up being used to capture other researchers or interested relatives who would stumble to cross it after a websearch on a particular person or a search for Schweidnitz POW Camp. We wrote a series of short stories on the various characters involved in the escape plus some of the other people of interest which popped up during discoveries such as the Queen Mother’s brother and a fellow who later became a Catholic priest after the war. We rounded it off with camp stories, information about life in the camp and their eventual repatriation. We invited guest writers to contribute their stories.

The blog is a means of directing people to our incredible story, and to capture their stories. People can contact us once they have found us.  Interestingly, a Polish historical page found us and we are now working collaboratively with them via their Polish blog site. 

The Polish Schweidnitz History portal

A word of warning here – for all its benefits be cautious of what you want to reveal. Do not give everything away in a blog if you are considering writing a book, a huge report or screenplay. 

One of the team developed timelines for our research “chapters” and in view of our accumulated information makes it easier to gather up referenced information when or if the book finally comes along. Colour coded charts and a spreadsheet is also a great data sorter for this task.

I thoroughly recommend a collaborative project. These men couldn’t have planned such a massive escape if they didn’t join forces, cooperate, help others. Likewise, like our ancestors we colluded and joined forces- how proud they’d be.

 

Below is a summary of tips for collaboration.

• Develop resources on shareable ancestry trees such as Ancestry or Wikitree
• Organise a cloud share service for files such as Dropbox. Make sure to standardise and sort files using easy to understand file titles/names. These are particularly useful when files are large.
• Develop protocols for emails so that information is easily shared, followed up and retained.
• Beware of email overload- develop a system of updates occasionally for those who may not want to be flooded with every bit of data.
• Think of using blogs or Facebook groups to pass on information to others.  eg We have a Strelley Family Facebook page and the blog for people to receive updates. People can access new information at will or introduce new interested parties to the current information. Blog links and stories are easy to share.
• Instagram, X , Messenger are other options to explore.
• Catalogue information into stories. My kids like 1 page summaries – little bites keep their interest.

Some of the photos collected - from the Nobbs Collection

What are we going to do next?? 

With the world coming back to normal our project has slowed as we make up for lost travel. I'll keep the blog going with updates like this. Some researchers and contributors have been able to write about their relatives and interests and we are always open to more finds and information. This is a space to celebrate them.

One member is engaging a ghost writer to incorporate her grandparent's part of the story into a larger family history of war, immigration and farming history. 

Another is planning a book on the topic between trips. Who knows- I think it could be a good documentary or film.

The search is always open for more information and memorabilia. We'd love to place a War Memorial in the location of the POW camp but negotiating that between 4 governments is probably easier said than done. Poland in Spring in 2028 might be nice!

I recently had a copy of the blog series made into a book. It is added to my collection of stories from my other blog- something I'm really proud of. Any suggestions ?  Contact us