For much of her life, a woman understood that she had grown up without knowing her father. She also believed she had no brothers or sisters.

While visiting her seriously ill mother in hospital, she encountered a man she did not recognise. After he had gone, she asked her mother who the visitor was. Her mother told her that he was her father.

The revelation answered one question, but came very late. There is no reason to assume it led to a lasting relationship.

Years afterwards, an inheritance investigation brought another unexpected discovery. The woman was related to the deceased in a much closer way than she had ever imagined: they were sisters.

Their mother had maintained relationships with both daughters, yet neither daughter appears to have known about the other. By the time our investigation uncovered the connection, both the mother and the sister had died.

There was no opportunity for a reunion. But the evidence helped explain a part of the family history that had remained hidden for a lifetime.