Certificates and records
Lost a certificate, need a duplicate, or been asked for a record you have never held? We obtain civil records and official statements on your behalf and put them into the form the body asking for them will accept.
Records we can help you get
Most requests are for a document that exists in a register somewhere and simply needs to be retrieved, certified and sent on.
Birth certificates
Originals, duplicates and extracts, including where the record predates a change of borders or authority.
Marriage and divorce
Marriage certificates, divorce decrees and confirmation of marital status.
Death certificates
Certificates and extracts needed for inheritance, pensions and estate matters.
Name changes
Records confirming a change of name and linking the old and new identities.
Criminal record checks
Police clearance and good-conduct certificates required for visas, employment and residence.
Confirmations and extracts
Residence confirmations, register extracts and archival statements requested by authorities.
How a request is made on your behalf
You cannot usually walk into a foreign registry from Hammersmith. What you can do is authorise someone who can.
For most records, the mechanism is a power of attorney. It names a representative in the country holding the register and authorises them to request, receive and, where needed, legalise the document. That is why these two services so often run together.
We establish exactly which record is held and by whom. Registers have been reorganised, transferred and in some regions damaged or relocated, and the office that holds a 1980s record may not be the one you would expect.
The representative makes the request, collects the document, and where required has it apostilled in the issuing country before it is sent on.
Once it reaches us, we handle the translation and any UK-side certification so the finished set is ready for whoever asked you for it.
What helps us find it faster
Records are found by matching details. The more precisely you can give them, the shorter the search.
Full details as registered
Names as they appear in the record, including patronymics, maiden names and any spelling used at the time.
Dates and places
Date and place of the event, as exactly as you know it, including the region and the administrative name in use then.
Any earlier document
An old copy, an expired certificate, a photograph of the original: even a partial one narrows the search considerably.
Who is asking, and why
The body requesting the record often specifies the form it must take. Their letter tells us what to aim for.
What holds these requests up
Details that do not match the register. A name spelled as it is today rather than as it was recorded, or a date remembered slightly wrong, and the register returns nothing. Most stalled searches are resolved by widening or correcting the details rather than by asking again.
The record is held somewhere other than expected. Administrative boundaries move, archives are transferred, and in some regions records have been relocated. Establishing custody is often the longest part of the job.
The document arrives without the legalisation the requesting body needs. A certificate that is perfectly genuine but carries no apostille will still be refused, and obtaining it afterwards means sending the document back.
The authority to request it was too narrow. A power of attorney that allows a representative to collect one specific document, when the registry then requires a related extract, means starting the authority again.
Frequently asked
Tell us what you need
Describe your situation in your own words. We will tell you which documents are required, how the process runs, and what it costs before anything starts.