Heir search in Germany and all over the world

The activity of commercial heir search has existed for over 100 years. Inheritance investigators are always in demand when there is an estate but the heirs are unknown - i.e. especially when there is no will and no relatives are known.

This means that, as a rule, we only take action if there is an estate in the amount of several thousand euros. In the case of smaller amounts, a time-consuming investigation is unfortunately often not possible. The same applies, of course, to overindebted estates, for which we generally refuse to work.

We search for the next of kin of the deceased person in archives, databases, cemeteries and churches. Our goal is to find all the heirs. This is almost always more than one person. Due to the wars in Europe, many documents have been destroyed and the fates of individual persons are difficult to trace due to expulsion.

Therefore, the search for heirs requires a lot of experience and specialized knowledge. Training as a historian or as a lawyer specializing in inheritance law is particularly helpful here.

Despite this expertise, the research often takes several years, because once the heirs have been found, all family connections must be proven with documents. Not infrequently, this also requires obtaining documents from abroad, which is why we have correspondents all over the world.

In only about half of our cases are searches within Germany sufficient. The international network in which we are embedded enables us to conduct rapid on-site research in many European and non-European countries. Our correspondents search the relevant archives to reconstruct and substantiate family connections. If civil records have been destroyed during the war, they resort to secondary evidence such as church or land registers. Since many of the probate cases we work on have international connections, this network is indispensable for our work. This is one of the reasons why we are a member of the International Association of Professional Probate Investigators, IAPPR(learn more about our memberships).

As a rule, the living descendants of the grandparents or even the great-grandparents of the testator are eligible to inherit. Through our archival and database work, we "shimmy" from document to document, research the life data of the decedent's ancestors, and then follow the individual family lines to the present. Through our search at registration and registry offices, we determine - often after months of effort - the heirs. In the rarest cases, the person of the deceased is known to them at all.

A certificate of inheritance is almost always required to prove the right to inherit to banks that hold the estate in safe custody or for any necessary property sales. Often there may even be several certificates of inheritance, as it happens that persons entitled to inherit may have died after the testator. After these persons, a certificate of inheritance is then also required. This is because the estate cannot be paid out until the succession has been fully proven.

Heir searchers provide full support to heirs in obtaining the necessary inheritance certificates: We procure all evidence in the form of documents and help the notary public to ensure that the application for a certificate of inheritance does not contain any genealogical gaps. In this way, we avoid time-consuming inquiries from the responsible district court or probate court, which must examine the application for a certificate of inheritance and all documents. Only after this examination will a certificate of inheritance ultimately be issued.

The costs of obtaining the inheritance certificates are also usually borne by the inheritance mediator. If necessary, he or she can also provide you with a lawyer who specializes in inheritance law.

You can find even more detailed information on the subject of inheritance certificates and application for inheritance certificates here.

The Federal Court of Justice (Judgment of 23.09.1999, Ref.: III ZR 323/98) has ruled that heir investigators must "sell" the results of their investigations to the heirs identified. There is therefore no entitlement to official remuneration. As heir investigators, we are therefore required to secure our fee claim by means of an appropriate agreement. The agreed fee is due exclusively in the event of success and is calculated as a percentage of the actual inheritance share paid out. The economic risk therefore lies solely with us.

The granting of a certificate of inheritance by the probate court does not mean the end of the investigator's work. On behalf of the community of heirs, the heir investigator takes care of closing the estate accounts, selling valuables belonging to the estate and coordinating the sale of real estate. Only when the heirs represented by him receive their respective inheritance shares is the activity of the heir's mediator finished.