Determination of heirs for guardians of estates

When investigating heirs, high costs arise due to the often time-consuming searches at home and abroad. We assume all these costs and agree with the heirs themselves - in accordance with the case law of the Federal Supreme Court - a contingency fee for our work. This means that the estate does not incur any costs even if our work is not successful.

It is true that many heir investigators are only prepared to take on the investigation of a case once the estate has reached a certain amount. One reason for this is that the costs for research and obtaining documents alone can already be higher than the possible heir investigator's fee.

We at ADD HOLSTEIN are aware and understand that the probate courts also want to see such cases solved and have precisely this expectation of the respective responsible guardian of the estate. Therefore, in the interest of a lasting partnership, we are interested in assisting you even in cases with a low estate value and, if possible, in identifying the heirs. Please do not hesitate to contact us.

It is a matter of course that the administrator of the estate appointed by the court always wants to be informed about the current progress of the investigations - especially since guardians of the estate are also subject to reporting obligations towards the probate court.

Since the requirements of the individual courts and accordingly also of the administrator of the estate often vary considerably, we are happy to orientate ourselves entirely to your needs after prior consultation and note these down at the beginning of the case acceptance.

It usually happens that individual heirs are already known before the appointment of the administrator of the estate or that heirs could be successfully identified by the administrator of the estate before the identification of the other heirs was handed over to an heir investigator. Nevertheless, these heirs also often need assistance in obtaining documents and a certificate of inheritance. We are happy to offer our assistance to these heirs at discounted rates, whereby it is up to the heirs themselves whether they wish to make use of our support.

In accordance with the case law of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), it is customary for heir's mediators to be remunerated on a performance basis and they must agree this remuneration with the heirs themselves.

In numerous individual cases, however, this is ruled out because only individual documents and other evidence are missing. We can also be of assistance in such cases. Please feel free to contact us personally with the details of the respective estate case.