applies when the people entitled to share in an estate are named directly as such by the decedent (last will and testament) who has clearly decided about how his assets are to be divided among the separate beneficiaries. The  testament usually indicates the person who is supposed to administer the estate (executor of a last will and testament) and to take care of its proper division. Usually managing the decedent`s last will and testament does not meet any problems, however it may happen that the executor is not able to locate beneficiaries. The reasons may be different like  for example the current address of the beneficiaries is not known or - in case of death of a beneficiary - there is no information about his or her family. In such a case the executors use services of firms that specialize in conducting genealogical research in a professional way.

is an instrument by which the decedent indicates a defined component of his estate to be passed over - after his/her death - to a defined individual or institution.

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Execution of a bequest is responsibility of a beneficiary which means that the bequeathed component of the estate does not go to the legatee automatically but he/she can demand executing the bequest.

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Neither an individual who predeceased the testator nor an institution that ceased to exist before the death of the testator can not become a legatee.

applies when the decedent died intestate and the respective procedure is a bit more complicated. In such a case the right to inherit results from the degree of kinship and is strictly regulated in the law of the decedent`s home country. Intestate beneficiaries are first of all and commonly the spouse and blood relatives.

It sometimes happens, however, that the decedent did not leave any next of kin, and in fact it is unknown if there are any living persons entitled to share in the estate. The reasons for that may be different: wars, displacing, change of borders, emigration or just family conflicts. As the years go by, further generations are born, names change through marriages and the family bounds get loose.

In such a case locating heirs is very difficult and implies extensive and expensive investigatiions. They often require conducting very thorough genealogical research reaching back into many generations. That is why the court nominates an estate administrator and calls for heirs to come up with their claims. If no heirs have come up with their claims and proofs of their entitlement within the prescribed time limit, then to entire estate irreversibly goes to the state.

GENEATRANSLAT specializes in searching for both testate and intestate beneficiaries. We also often locate individuals being legatees.

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The great majority of the cases we work on refer to estates abroad. It is due to our expertise and persistent experience as well as contacts to the law offices from different countries that we are able to successfully make estates from all over the world be transferred to Polish beneficiaries. The TESTIMONIALS prove the highest quality standards of our services.