Who we work with
Most heir searches come to us from people responsible for settling an estate:
- Estate and probate attorneys who need heirs identified and relationships proven before distribution.
- Executors and administrators handling the estate of a relative or client with no clear next of kin.
- Trust officers and fiduciaries with a beneficiary they can no longer reach.
- Families settling the estate of a relative who died without a will, or who believe they may be entitled to an inheritance.
When you need an heir search
Estates stall for many reasons, but the family is often the missing piece. We're usually called in when:
- Someone died without a will and it isn't clear who their next of kin are.
- A will names a beneficiary who can't be found, or who has died and left heirs of their own.
- The closest relatives are cousins, nieces and nephews, or more distant kin nobody in the family has met.
- Relatives moved away, emigrated or lost touch generations ago.
- Adoptions, half-siblings, remarriages or name changes make the family tree hard to read.
- The court or the estate's lawyer needs evidence that a thorough search was made.
What you receive
Every search ends in a report built to be checked, not just believed:
- A kinship chart showing the deceased's family, every potential heir and how each one is related.
- Supporting records for each link: birth, marriage, death and census records, obituaries and other documents that prove each relationship.
- Living heirs identified with the last known locations we can establish from public records.
- A research narrative explaining what was searched, what was found and where records are missing or conflicting.
- Full source citations, so your attorney, the court or another researcher can verify every conclusion.
We identify and document heirs. Which relatives are entitled to inherit is decided by the law of the state or province and by the court. We don't give legal advice, and we work alongside the estate's lawyer rather than in place of one.
How an heir search works
- Free consultation. Tell us about the deceased and what you already know about the family. We'll outline which lines need research and where the difficult parts are likely to be.
- Scope and estimate. We agree on which family lines to trace, how far to go and which jurisdictions are involved, and give you an hour estimate before billable work begins.
- Research. We work outward from the deceased through vital records, census returns, probate files, obituaries, city directories, immigration records and church registers in the US, Canada and overseas.
- Living heirs. We trace each line forward to the present day to identify living heirs and their last known locations.
- Your report. You receive the kinship chart, supporting records and research narrative, ready to share with the court or the estate's lawyer.
Where a relationship can't be settled by records alone, DNA testing with the consent of the people involved can help confirm it. We can advise on which tests make sense and interpret the results.
Billed hourly, never a share of the inheritance
Some heir-search firms work on contingency and take a percentage of what an heir inherits. We don't. We bill the estate or the family by the hour at a rate agreed before work starts, so the inheritance stays with the people it belongs to.
Pricing: $80 USD or $90 CAD per hour. Most projects take 10–40 hours, depending on how many family lines are involved, how far back the search goes and whether relatives live abroad.
Estates across the US and Canada
We research families wherever the records are: US states and counties, Canadian provinces, and the overseas countries many families came from. Families rarely stay in one place, so most heir searches cross at least one state, provincial or national border.
Every inquiry is handled confidentially. We share findings only with the person who engaged us, and we don't contact heirs unless you ask us to.