The following teaser is from a fascinating article posted at the June 11, 2013 edition of walesonline.co.uk. It seems that chasing down heirs can become a costly proposition…
A TV-featured “heir hunter” has been beaten by a World War Two veteran’s natural daughter in a High Court race to inherit the ex-soldier’s home.
Peter Birchwood, a top genealogist and senior partner of Montgomery-based Celtic Research Ltd, was embroiled in a legal face-off with Cheryle Vallee after her Ukrainian-born father, Wlodzimierz Bogusz, died in 2003, at the age of 83, without leaving a will.
Mrs Vallee, 63, insisted she had the right to her father’s home in Eldon Street, Reading, because he had handed her the keys and deeds shortly before his death, and had pledged that “he wanted her to have the house when he died”.
However, because she had been formally adopted by family friends at the age of 13, she had no right to inherit as her father’s next of kin, and Mr Birchwood fought the corner of Mr Bogusz’s long lost brother after tracking him down to his home in eastern Europe.
I suspect that I will not be the only one to comment on this, as I do what is often described as an “Heir Hunter”, though I prefer the phrase Forensic Genealogist, because in my work, among other things, I also help to clear title to land that then allows it to be used in the way the owner desires and often does not involve any money being paid to a former owner or his/her heirs.
The law tends to be quite clear in matters such as this. While Mrs. Vallee’s statements that her father gave her the keys and deed, stating he wanted her to have them would constitute a non-cupative or oral/verbal will, the same must still be PROVEN IN COURT, by sworn statements by witnesses to the actual event attesting the father was of sound mind and also was not tricked into the same. There would be a further burden in proving the “will” to show that any witnesses would not themselves benefit from the terms of the will.
While many jurisdictions now allow illegitimate children to inherit, historically that was possible only if the parent acknowledged the illegitimate child, by either a will or deed.
As it has become possible for a court to issue a ruling that is contrary to established law, Kelo v. City of New Haven, perhaps being, hands down, the best example of the same, from the details of this case I am reading, it is far from clear to me that Mr. Bogusz had indeed left a nuncupative will, the ONLY circumstance where Mrs. Vallee could inherit.
That said, “Heir Hunting” can indeed be an expensive proposition, for the great majority of those engaged in the pursuit are NOT agents of either the Court or the Estate, so any expenses incurred in the search are reimbursed ONLY IF, AND WHEN, an heir or heirs is/are found and subsequently awarded (a share of) the estate. They are also in a race where there is no “second prize”.