I received my PhD in social anthropology at the London School of Economics (LSE) and have devoted my professional attention to genealogical research and heir investigations for over 20 years. My office is in Berlin, Germany.
Dr. Benno Grzimek
It is not as unusual as you might think: sometimes a person dies, leaving assets and an estate – and the authorities do not know who is entitled to claim the inheritance. Probate courts or administrators, notaries, lawyers, etc. don’t usually have the capacity or the expertise to trace entitled relatives. These relatives can be descendants of great-grandparents of the deceased, possibly still living in the home lands from which some of the family emigrated. The authorized agent who is responsible for administering the assets of the estate may lack expertise in specialized areas such as foreign languages, accessing and deciphering old church or registry office records, knowledge about historical migration processes, foreign databases or the pertinent legal regulations in foreign countries. In such cases, heir investigators like me are authorized to search for heirs.
If I have sent you a letter informing you of the possibility you may be (one of) the heirs to an estate, I have already accomplished a major part of my service to you because I managed to find you. I spent time and other resources on this task. But this achievement remains incomplete until all legally relevant kinship links to the person who has died are established and documented. Your rights to inherit will not be determined to the full extent by the authorities without a complete documentation of all entitled persons. The procurement of documents in Germany or other countries constitutes a second part of my work and is often quite time-consuming and expensive. If you grant me power to act on your behalf in this matter, I will do all that is necessary to claim the estate. I will make sure that all documentation is in order before the application for title is submitted, and I will verify the accounting and documenting of assets. As your authorized representative, I am also responsible for the correct distribution of these assets and money among the entitled heirs. My time, effort, and expenditure in the provision of these services is covered by an amount contractually agreed with you. In addition I need to obtain your authorization in writing, that I can act on your behalf. I can also manage the sale of real estate in case your inheritance includes any properties that you wish to sell in order to receive your share of the proceeds. I have extensive experience in such transactions.
My fee is a percentage of your inheritance or – in the case of several beneficiaries – of your share of the inheritance, as is customary in the industry and confirmed by courts. The fee is deducted from your share of the inheritance, just like inheritance and/or other taxes, lawyer’s or municipal charges, and will under no circumstances exceed your share.
Excluded are also indebted estates: I will not work on cases which have no assets to speak of, as I would have to waive my fee.
ASAP – a swift settlement is also in my interest! How long it takes until you actually receive any money, however, rarely depends on my work. The time involved in processing a case depends on the composition of the inherited assets and on how many heirs need to agree. It is particularly important that all heirs cooperate and work together to bring the matter to a speedy conclusion. Even only one beneficiary’s refusal to cooperate, or attempts to try and arrange matters by him or herself can delay the entire process by years for all of the other heirs. The fastest way to liquidate any assets and settle the estate is if I am authorized by all heirs to act on their behalf.
After you and, if possible, all other potential heirs have authorized me to proceed in this matter, and signed a contract, I will inform all parties involved about the results of my research to date on the decedent and start the acquisition of the supporting documents. Once the documentation is complete, I can apply for an inheritance certificate to fulfill the legal requirements for any further steps regarding the liquidation of the assets of the estate. As the sole representative of all heirs, I will have an overview of the proceedings at all times and can strive to ensure a quick resolution to everyone’s benefit.
Dr. Benno Grzimek
Joachim-Friedrich-Str. 32
10711 Berlin (Halensee)
Phone. +49 30 8954 1083