A missing heir is someone related to a dead person who can not be found. There is no address and the concerned parties do not know where the missing heir can be found. A private investigator, probate research firm or forensic genealogist can be hired to perform an heir search. The laws regarding estate law are very complex and change from country to country and from state to state. This is why a qualified experienced professional is often required to work out the problems that may arise in settling an estate.
The search for an heir may come up in the context of estate and trust settlement. A similar situation that will prompt a search is finding the owners of unclaimed assets like inactive checking and savings accounts or safe deposit boxes. Another situation that may call for a search are law suits to settle real estate title claims or determining gas, oil, and mineral ownership rights.
A professional probate researcher’s job is to trace the next-of-kin. The estate may not have any known heirs or the heirs are known but the court does not know where they live. Heirs from one part of the family may be known but the heirs from other parts of the family may be unknown. There can be a variety of permutations of the missing heir’s situation.
There are many different names for probate researchers. They are sometimes referred to as forensic genealogists, heir searchers, or heir hunters. Whatever you call them, they all do the same thing. They try to find someone whose whereabouts are unknown. There are a variety of private investigation techniques that are employed to find a missing heir.
The legal term intestate means someone who has died without a will. If the value of the deceased’s assets exceeds their debts, their assets are distributed by the probate court. In this situation, the probate court will determine who are the legal heirs to the deceased’s estate.
The laws regarding intestacy are different from country to country. In the United States they are different in each state. Clearly, a probate researcher must have expertise of the laws in each state. They also must be skilled with genealogical investigative techniques. Many times they have no information other than the deceased’s name and their date of death. It is not uncommon that the heirs have no or little knowledge of the deceased.
Many probate researchers are attorneys or they are hired by an attorney. Certainly a thorough knowledge of the law and expertise in tracking people down is necessary to do this job. One must be cautious of con artists contacting you about being an heir.
Never give a stranger money for additional information. If they are a legitimate heir search company, they will not ask for money up front before they give you more information. Only use legitimate attorneys, private investigators, or a credible professional heir search service. If you are interested in a career in searching for the missing heir of a client, you can get started by working as a researcher for an estate attorney.
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