Identity Theft

Many of the most exciting stories involve a search for a missing beneficiary. Sometimes there is a search for the truth about a fake missing heir. One of Huckleberry Finn’s adventures involved him with two villains posing as the long lost uncles so they could rob three orphan girls of their father’s estate. Poor little Cedric Errol became Little Lord Fauntleroy as a result of his grandfather’s search for his estranged son’s child.

In real life as in literature, there are many reasons to go on an genealogical search. The missing relative may be entitled to money or property. Sometimes if the missing relative is deceased, another family member may inherit that share of the estate. Maybe the missing heir has the rare blood type that will qualify him to be a blood, marrow or organ donor.

Occasionally, in real life as in the movies, there is a dying person who wants to locate a long lost family member to make amends and see that the estranged one receives a share of the legacy. Sometimes the elderly relative wants to meet the missing one to decide if he or she is worthy to be mentioned in the will. That’s a set-up for an imposter to appear.

Most often locating a missing heir is the business of the lawyers that are in charge of the estate of the deceased. They might be called up to find and notify all of the relatives and others mentioned in the will. If there is no will, it might be necessary to discover the existence of family members that nobody knows about.

This can become a very difficult and complicated task. It’s difficult enough to track down, for example, a daughter who might have been married several times in several states. It is even more complicated if she has died and any children she may or may not have had by any of her husbands may have married.

Sons are not entirely problem free. That might have biological offspring that are not legally accounted for. They might have gotten married or been in a less formal relationship in another country.

An understanding of genealogy can be helpful. You may have to trace back a generation or two to discover that the nearest living relative is a descendant of a half sister of the grandfather of the testator. Maybe that sister was adopted by a stepfather and lived in another country. She might have had descendants of which one survived and is now entitled to some or all of the estate.

What if all but one of the descendants of the half brother died and the one became a criminal and lived under several aliases? Perhaps he had a religious experience and saw the error of his ways and moved to India and became a missionary. He might have died but not until after he adopted an abandoned child who is now the missing-next-of kin. It would take some pretty serious searching to find all that out.

Social Security records, cemetery records, military records and vital statistics records can all help in a search for a missing heir. Churches can provide baptismal records, membership rolls and an accounting of a member’s tithes and offerings. People who have experience at searching for a missing heir say that, next to a social security numbers, nothing is more valuable than an old address and a nosy neighbor.

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