A notary appointed us to verify the devolution of estate of Sylvia R. who became quadriplegic after a horse-riding accident.

She did not have any children but she did have many cousins from known families based in the South West. In 2008, Sylvia R. had herself inherited from her father of whom she was the only child.

We very soon discovered that her father had been adopted and was in fact born in Morocco. He had himself inherited from his mother and his wife. We also discovered that Sylvia’s parents had only married in Switzerland several years after her birth.

Before confirming the rights of the known cousins, the researchers thus endeavoured to rule out, one by one, the hypotheses corresponding to the orders of heirs provided for by the French Civil Code. They answered the following questions:

– Had Sylvia given birth to one or more children?

– What life did her father have before he was adopted at the age of 24?

– What was the line of descent (father or mother’s side) and the degree of kinship of the cousins?

After complex investigations carried out in France, Algeria and Morocco, we succeeded in finding the two children that Sylvia’s father had had to his first wife.

Sylvia’s brother and sister were therefore her only two heirs. They had been omitted from their father’s estate when the inheritance was settled in 2008. They had tried to find him by contacting the French Consulate but were unsuccessful and thought he must have died a long time ago.

Two brothers under guardianship died within a few days of each other in the centre of France. The legal trustee who had known them for 20 years had never met any relatives. In agreement with the trustee, the notary asked ADD ■ Associés to check that Guillaume and Florentin L. had effectively not left any entitled heir.

We examined all the possibilities of inheritance, one by one, as provided for by the Civil Code.

Our researchers cross checked the office’s records, population censuses, civil status records, nominal rolls, declarations of inheritance and surveys. After weeks of research, we eventually found a sister. We talked to her and found out that her mother, who was also the mother of Guillaume and Florentin L., was still alive, but suffering from a degenerative disease. At the same time, we told her that she had two natural brothers who had been abandoned shortly after their birth. We represented mother and daughter in the administration of the two estates.

A notary tasked us with tracing the heirs of Robert M. He left a small estate and had taken out life insurance contracts. Apparently, the only family he left were his partner’s nephews, the beneficiaries of his life insurance contracts. Yet, Robert M had been married twice. We explored the office’s records, consulted the civil status registers and found the appendix documents relative to his divorce. To the great surprise of the notary who had never heard of them, our investigations revealed two children from his first marriage. We represented them.