What starting information is needed?

Before commencing, we ask you to provide a written brief containing:

	a statement of your search objective,
	all relevant information that you already have,  and
	details of any searches already made by you, or on your behalf.

For the last two it is essential that you give the source with, if possible, the document references and repository. [Note:  LDS film numbers or SoG shelf marks are not useful references as they are not original sources]

Please be careful to differentiate between facts that you know to be true and other information, such as family legend.   If your brief refers to more than one individual then please take special care to ensure that it is clear at all times to whom you are referring – what is clear to you may not be so to us since we do not have any background knowledge of your research or your family.

Do check the list of hints to help you with this task.

Before you send any money, contact us for an estimate, an assessment of the likelyhood of success and confirmation that we can take on your work. Unfortunately we receive more requests for help than we can take on and many are declined because the enquirer fails to send basic information known to them that would enable us to provide an estimate.