Estate Settlement: How Can People Find Missing Heirs To A Property

Last wills and testaments can get very tricky. There usually is some level of dissatisfaction, quarreling among siblings, and contesting of the will. When a named heir fails to show up or cannot be located, the matter takes on a unique turn. What if someone passes away before having the opportunity to write up a will, how to proceed? Well, different means of locating the sought party can be implemented. You can choose to conduct the search yourself or leave that responsibility to a company. 

Tips To Find Missing Heirs To A Property

Hire A Probate Research Company

A genealogist will get the ball rolling in the event no will is left. The tracing of lineage to the deceased is necessary before any assets are released. A family tree will be drawn up and all relevant documents like birth certificates will need to be presented. Partnering with insurance agencies, the heir search companies will conduct profound due diligence. As explained by the genealogist, it normally is not a difficult job to find persons named on a will. It only becomes a problem when the person in question seems to have disappeared into thin air. At that time an heir hunter is contracted. 

When hiring such a company, ensure that their results are usable in court. Not all persons or businesses that offer this service provide final documents that have any credibility because the genealogist themself or an heir hunter has poor credentials and search records. Select proper probate with suitably qualified personnel for legally accepted results. If despite all best efforts no heir can be located, the property will be held in a trust fund for a period of time, after which ownership would move to the state. 

Conduct The Search Yourself

While employing a professional company skilled in this task is the easiest way to go about finding a ‘missing’ person, nothing is stopping you from trying on your own. You first need to find out all the background information you can about both the individual and the deceased. Information like their names, addresses, and date of birth provides a good base for investigation. Make use of the world wide web. Search on all social platforms, enter keywords into all major search engines, look through newspapers, published articles, and death announcements. Try sites like Yahoo People Search, Spies Online and truthfinder.com to locate someone you have searchable information on. If you’re lucky, all of the missing relative’s personal information will show up.

If all of these fail, resort to publicizing ads. Give as much specific information as you can so that the public will return to you information that pertains to the one whom you seek to find. Give the process sufficient time to show returns. But if you’ve waited for a long time with no success, it would then be time to throw in the towel and resort to allowing the experts to carry out their job. 

The Law Might Have A Bigger Say Than You Think

Depending on the state you live in, how the land of a deceased person who left no will is divided does not fall to the fancies of the relatives. It falls to the state and the court. Laws of intestacy would come into play for land in the vicinity of your residential community but also for any land owned in other states. If there is a spouse and children left behind, the ratio of the assets going to each will be determined by the legal system. Should the deceased not have been married and had no children, collateral heirs, meaning siblings, cousins, aunts, and so on will be named beneficiaries. 

To avoid all the confusion this is likely to bring, all persons should be advised to have a will drawn up whether young or old, rich or not so rich, sick and healthy. As long as you have valuable assets, do the smart thing and subdivide them however you wish. Once you’ve signed that document, there is nothing anyone else can do to change it no matter if they agree with your decisions or not. 

There are many cases that have been wrapped up successfully, the named recipient of the property or money is found, identity is proven and assets are disbursed. This is the happy ending to the matter. The deceased gets exactly what he or she wanted. Of course, all in the event a will exists. Should a certified genealogist get involved, the odds of finding the person are good but there will always remain some cases when no heir is found. In such a case what the law says goes and cannot be refuted.