Genealogical research and asset repatriation business, Title Research, has highlighted the importance of family tree verification in its latest case study.
The report looks at how changing family dynamics can easily lead to misdistribution without proper investigation.
In this case, Title Research was instructed to verify the deceased’s paternal family in an intestacy case. The estate was anticipated to be passed to aunts and uncles (whole blood), or their children if they had died before the deceased. During Title Research’s investigations, they found 14 potential heirs on the paternal side.
On the maternal side, the Personal Representative was believed to be the only heir. However, they died during the estate administration process. As such, Title Research was asked to verify the maternal side of the family tree to obtain missing beneficiary insurance.
While this research was expected to be straightforward, it soon became apparent that this was not the case. And, eventually, the investigation uncovered 62 maternal heirs, resulting in 76 entitled heirs overall.
This case highlights how easy it can be to distribute an estate in an intestacy case erroneously.
According to Title Research: “This is certainly not the first time we’ve discovered additional unknown heirs and prevented a client from misdistribution. As family relationships become increasingly complex, it makes family tree verification more important than ever. Today, we’re frequently asked for advice and guidance in verifying or reconstructing family trees due to complex family dynamics.”
Today, family structures are often complicated. It is no longer the case that all couples will get married, have children and die. Modern families often include children who have a different mother or father to their siblings. Likewise, many parents (including same-sex couples) choose never to get married. Furthermore, adoption has become increasingly more common in intestacy cases.
Because of this, where a Will does not exist, it can be difficult to establish who should inherit without the support of an experienced genealogical researcher; especially when you can no longer rely on just marriage and birth records.
Title Research concluded: “Our genealogy experience spans over 50 years and in that time we’ve learnt that family trees are not always as they seem. If you’ve been presented with an intestate estate, we highly recommend that you get a complete family tree professionally verified or appoint an experienced genealogist to reconstruct the family tree if you’re presented with an incomplete tree. This will ensure that the estate is correctly distributed so there’s no risk to the Personal Representative.”
