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Heir Hunting

Heir Hunting

David Horton & Reid Kress Weisbord

Volume 169 Issue 2 2021
Article

For more than 150 years, companies called “heir hunters” have operated in the shadows of the court system. Heir hunters monitor probate filings to identify intestate decedents who have missing or unknown relatives. They then perform genealogical research, locate the decedent’s kin, and offer to inform them about their inheritance rights in exchange for a share of the property. States are sharply divided about whether to enforce contracts between heir hunters and heirs. This discord stems from the fact that we know virtually nothing about heir hunting.

Professor of Law, University of California, Davis, School of Law. Professor of Law and Judge Norma L. Shapiro Scholar, Rutgers Law School.

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