A property managing agent of a co-ownership tasked us with tracing the heirs of a defaulting co-owner. His outstanding charges were building up and jeopardising the small co-ownership.

Our first job involved checking the co-owner’s birth certificate. And we did not find any mention of his death. Against all expectations, it turned out he was alive and we thus informed the managing agent. At the same time, the caretaker, who we plied with questions, noticed that the window to the apartment was ajar. As we watched on, he decided to go up a ladder to shut it and found himself face to face, through the window, with the defaulting owner. He was sitting at the table, mummified. He had been dead for months.

After the compulsory police enquiry, we had the death certificate drafted and began to look for his heirs.

Following searches that took us to Pas de Calais, Réunion Island, Lozère, Cantal and the Tarn, we found two 4^th cousins on his father’s side and twelve 6^th cousins on his mother’s side.