Original co-owner not traceable

My brother bought his house jointly with his then partner 44 years ago. She left him after a few months in 1980 and has never been heard from or seen again. But he never got round to having her name removed from the Registered Title at HMLR.  He recently died.  My sister and I as his beneficiaries should now own the house.  But all attempts to trace his former partner (whose name happens to have been "Smith") have failed.  I wish to re-register the house in the ownership of my sister and I. We have all necessary documents but cannot complete form AP1 without the involvement of the former partner. How can we resolve this ?

John - you will need legal advice here if you are unable to trace the surviving joint owner.
I would recommend employing a professional tracing firm to locate the missing person as the legal ownership is now theirs and you will need them to complete any transfer.
The only other option in my experience is if they are missing presumed dead and if you can prove that then you'd need to do so to a judge who can then execute the |Transfer for example