Terms and conditions

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...professional researchers of Scottish genealogy...
where we can help you really Discover your Scottish ancestry

       

       

 

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How we operate to help you trace your ancestors or living relatives

                                   "Terms and Conditions"

Costs

Standard Package* - £25* sterling per hour, plus incidental expenses. The results are presented in a stylish album. (*See 'Money Conversion' link below).

Deluxe Gift Package* - includes the same research work as in the Standard Package, but offers a wider range of reports; the data found on Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates (and in Census records) is re-produced in stylish ScotGenes format and everything is presented in a handsome leather-style album. If you are interested in this style package, it is available at an extra cost which is best discussed after the research stage. The time required to produce the artwork for the package, and therefore the cost, would then be known.

(*See the Package Table below for details)

You can request  research work to be carried out over an initial specified number of hours. This allows you to assess progress so far and decide whether or not to extend the search. The rate per hour is the same, regardless of the type of search carried out. Costs of special visits to places of origin, however, are by arrangement.

......time blocks allow you to control cost levels......

Deposit - Minimum £75 sterling payable prior to the commencement of research (payable to ScotGenes, 4 Vere Road, Blackwood, Kirkmuirhill, Lanark ML11 9RS, Scotland, UK). The remainder is normally paid in stages after each progress report. You can  make payments, from your own home and in your own currency, by using the Secure On-line Payment system on our Service Request Page, which will show a selected amount in five major currencies. If you do not have an appropriate credit card, please pay by  International (sterling) cheque. 

'The Work' - includes research and construction of the material collected into a Standard, or Deluxe, package (see the Package table further down this page). 

This could involve researching; careful consideration of the data extracted from the archives; planning the next stage of research; production of charts, reports, birth, marriage, death and census certificates data; obtaining copies of documents or maps; photography; travel to distant locations;  expenses and postage (airmail or surface mail); co-ordination with the customer; and final production of the package.

What ancestral information will one get in return for any given amount of money? - please see the note below the Package table.

Money Conversion - the  Secure On-line Payment System will automatically convert the selected amount into five major currencies, but up to date currency conversion rates can also be found at http://uk.finance.yahoo.com under 'Investing/International/Exchange Rate Table/Currency Converter'.

Communication - we inform you of the research results and costs to date and agree with you what should happen next, at each stage.

Type(s) of Search - these have been broken down for your convenience and are of course subject to availability of data. You can use these Type numbers when you submit your request on the 'Service Request' page :-

Type 1 - direct branches only, for example surname(s) of parent(s) or grandparent(s). 

Type 2 - as above, with brothers and sisters at each generation, as far as possible.

Type 3 - other specified family branches.

Type 4 - other specified people.

Note - Search types 1 to 4 look at births, marriages, deaths and censuses and the results automatically include any other data present in these archives, eg other people, occupations, places, dates etc.

Type 5 - deeds, wills etc, and a wide range of other archival records. Legal deeds often reveal the names of other members of the family, for example children whose births were not recorded in the old church records.

Type 6 - extending the search to a ‘local history’ search, to look at landowners’ historical family papers, maps etc. to get more information and to build a clearer picture of the local context in which your ancestors lived. The result could be a narrative with attachments (maps, copy book extracts etc).

Note - Search types 5 and 6 may be used automatically, to some extent, in order to prove a link between two people, or as a means of extending the tree.

Type 7 - visits to the locations, with photos of the places and possibly of ancestors’ houses and gravestones.

Type 8 - for customers who visit Scotland, personal tours of their ancestral locations can be arranged.

Type 9 - we can trace living relatives, if possible, from specified point(s) in the Family Tree.

What we would require from you at this stage

Completion of the on-line Service Request Form giving your request or query including the following information:-

The number of initial hours' work you want us to carry out. 

Your provisional target date for completion of the whole, or part of, the project. We will certainly do our best to meet your requirements, but the timescale depends on the types of searches requested and the nature and availability of the data held in the various archives, as well as our workload.

The Type(s) of search required (listed above).

Details of the person you would like us to start with, for example name of a person and his/her spouse; dates and places of birth, marriage and death. For families now living outwith the UK, these details are particularly useful in respect of the last ancestor to have been born in Scotland. 

Any other information you can provide would be useful.

Payment of a deposit, once we have agreed with you the exact basis of research.

What you will get from us

 

                

 

( depending on your Service Request requirements)

ThePackage Table
The Standard Package includes items below numbered 2, 3, 5 & 8 , plus any  selections from items 10 to 14. The  cost of this to individual clients is £25 per hour, plus expenses. (The corporate rate to our company clients is £35 per hour, plus expenses.)

The Deluxe Package (for that Special Gift) can include any item below numbered 1 to 9, plus any selections from items 10 to 14, and is perhaps best decided upon after the research has been done and the results known. In this way, an estimate of the extra time required to produce the artwork for this style of package is more easily made, and you can then decide which style to choose.

In each style of package, the tree charts are produced on good quality coloured paper.

 
1.A handsome, personal folder (a beautiful burgundy leather-style A4 album), containing your Scottish Family History. A typical layout would be a List of Contents, an Introductory Overview of your family history, together with the following types of Trees and reports.

(The coloured ‘boxes’ in the Tree  would show  names,  birth, marriage, death dates, occupations and places. And if you can let us have any photos of recent or past generations of your family, they can be scanned into the Tree and returned to you. An excellent reference system guides you through any branch of the Tree.)
2.An Ancestral Tree, showing your direct ancestors above you in the Tree.
3.A Descendant Tree of the earliest ancestor in each of the main branches, showing all their descendants right down to you. 
4.A Report detailing exactly how you relate to everyone else identified in the research, for example, a 2nd cousin twice removed, or a 6th great-grandparent.
5.A Report showing all known details of individuals in each of the main branches, displayed by generation level. This report includes details of Old Parish Church Records (OPRs).
6.A Report showing all names identified in the research, together with their known birth, marriage and death dates.
7.An Index showing the page numbers for all names found in the research. In addition, you would receive the following items as Appendices:-
8.A Tree showing every person identified in the research, regardless of which branch they belong to. This is an excellent way of seeing all the branches and twigs of your Family Tree in perspective. The pages are presented loose-leaf and trimmed, ready for framing, if desired.
9.Well-presented ScotGenes Forms showing, for reference purposes, the data extracted from each of the relevant Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records in the Archives.
10.Current and historical information on where about in Scotland your ancestors lived.
11.Photos of the places, houses and gravestones, if possible.
12.Copies of all relevant documents, deeds, certificates and old and new maps (with main place-names highlighted).
13.Contact details of living relatives in Scotland, or elsewhere in the UK.
14.Deviations to the chart layouts can be arranged, and extra copies of your Scottish Family Tree package may be ordered.

(Note. We regret that it is not possible to say in advance exactly what you would get for any given number of research hours, as this depends on the information given to us at the start, the availability of the records in the archives and the number and extent of searches that may be necessary to get to a particular event or record. Therefore, for a given number of people, or generations, in a Family Tree, the time taken to achieve that Tree can vary significantly. You can rest assured, however, that we will use our experience to the full and work hard to maximise the results in the time allocated and to obtain as much information as possible for you. Any other statement in advance could be unfair to either you the customer, or to ScotGenes, and this is why specified blocks of time are suggested, to build up the picture in affordable chunks of time that can be jointly reviewed.)

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As a culture, we have lost the habit of passing family tree information down to the next generation. So why not find out now who your Scottish ancestors were, and pass this information on? It really is amazing to see a rich variety of names and occupations emerging from the depths of time. These are your genes - the stuff you are made of....