Need to find a missing beneficiary or heir? Our professional probate genealogists can locate rightful heirs across the globe so estates can be properly distributed. We leave no stone unturned in finding relatives using specialised research techniques.
Who Might Need Heir Tracing Services?
Heir tracing services help those managing estates locate beneficiaries who can’t easily be found. Common situations requiring heir tracing include:
> Executors needing to distribute assets from a will but beneficiaries have moved or can’t be contacted
> Administrators requiring help finding next of kin when someone dies intestate without a will
> Family historians or genealogists looking to locate lost relatives
> Adoptees and donor-conceived people searching for biological family
> Companies trying to track down shareholders from decades past
Whether you’re a solicitor, probate researcher, trustee, or family member, our global network of professional probate genealogists can locate missing or unknown beneficiaries of estates.
How Do We Trace Missing Heirs & Beneficiaries?
With decades of experience, our heir hunters have access to records and research techniques the average person doesn’t. We utilise various legal methods to pinpoint heirs’ locations:
> Public Record Searches – Electoral rolls, census records, archives
> Database Lookups – Birth, death, marriage and divorce registers
> Social Media Tracing – Facebook, LinkedIn and other networks
> Global People Tracer Searches – Utility records, directory listings
> Overseas Contacts – International probate researchers
> Document Analysis – Wills, family bibles, photographs, diaries
> DNA Genealogy – Genetic matching with relative databases
Our professional heir hunters leave no stone unturned finding heirs thought lost to time or circumstance. Even the most complex global estate cases are within our capabilities.
Why Trust Global Investigations for Heir Tracing?
With Global Investigations, you get access to records and contacts the average person can’t obtain themselves. Our experienced probate researchers know where to dig deeper to find clues leading to missing beneficiaries. No heir tracing case is too difficult for our skilled team.
We operate with integrity and discretion, ensuring proper legal protocols are followed tracing relatives. Our global connections via the Association of Probate Researchers allows us to leverage contacts across six continents. Few heir tracing firms have capabilities as far reaching as ours.
Our work complies with all relevant data regulations protecting privacy. We liaise with both heirs found and the estates to ensure smooth transitions distributing assets. Over decades, our heir hunters have reunited thousands of lost beneficiaries with inheritance rightfully theirs.
Missing Beneficiary Searches
When executors can’t locate named beneficiaries, our global probate researchers step in. We access archives, records and family trees to pinpoint their locations or find descendant relatives if beneficiaries are deceased. Even beneficiaries who have moved abroad or changed their names are trackable with our sophisticated research tactics.
Intestate & Lost Will Searches
Without a will clearly naming beneficiaries, estates can’t easily identify next of kin for asset distribution. Our professional genealogists build detailed family trees pointing to living relatives who stand to inherit. We obtain intestacy orders from courts once establishing legitimate heirs to lost will estates.
Heir Tracing for Adoptees & Donor Conceived People
For adoptees, donors and their descendants seeking biological family, our global investigators facilitate reunions. Utilising DNA matching, public records, archives and discretion, we locate genetic relatives across the world. Many tearful reunions have transpired thanks to our sensitive research.
Tracing Heirs FAQs
We utilise public records, archives, family trees, DNA matching, overseas contacts and sophisticated research to uncover heirs’ identities and locations when little information exists. Our probate genealogists specialise in solving such complex searches.
Most straightforward beneficiary searches take 6-10 weeks in the UK. More complex overseas heir hunts with little initial information can take up to six months. Every case varies depending on locations, records access and clues uncovered.
We leverage global ancestry records, census details, birth/death indexes, newspaper archives, DNA relative matching, and many more resources. Our heir hunters contribute records to genealogy databases as well. No resource goes unchecked when tracing heirs.
In some cases yes. Using public family trees, DNA triangulation, and records, our probate researchers can uncover ancestor trails leading to modern relatives. The less initial information provided, the more difficult and slower the search becomes however.
Get in touch with our global team to start your heir hunt. We provide free initial consultations and transparent quotes tailored to your case complexity. Let our experienced probate genealogists take the frustration out of finding lost beneficiaries.
