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For comments, please contact the author at Ettisch-EnchelmaierGmbH@t-online.de Published in the P.I. Magazine May/June 2001 Ancestry An investigator is bestowed with the task to find heirs of a deceased who apparently has no spouse, children or siblings. The request may come from an official source, such as a lower court, but also from a lawyer representing an insurance company, the landlord where the deceased lived just to name a few possibilities. But there are also official publications where heirs are sought and if no heirs are found in a certain period of time the state becomes the heir. There are investigators who specialize exactly in that sphere to find heirs where nobody else has been successful; they are the so-called heir hunters. In the USA the minimum information needed is of course the name of the person, his or her date of birth, her maiden name, and above all the social security number which is the most important data, because in most instances it contains the state where the deceased was born. How quickly a case is closed successfully, taking it that there are indeed heirs, depends on the information available at the very beginning as well as how quickly do the sources to be contacted cooperate. Maybe there is an ID card, a passport found among the belongings left behind, perhaps also letters, bank accounts, social security files, marriage or divorce certificate. In Germany the Registrar's office, part of the civic register, is the best first place to contact. In Germany every locality of a certain size has its Registrar's office. There is no longer need to go there personally, but when the investigator has proved his justified interest in writing, most offices will cooperate and not hide behind the Data Protection Act. There the records of births, marriages, divorces are kept. They help to build a "family tree", at least showing who were his parents, with whom he was married, divorced. Depending whether the deceased had lived all his life in the locality where he finally died, or most likely has moved around, then the records are not complete at the Registrar's office at the last locality, but there are hopefully cross references. The next step is to get in touch with the Registrar's offices where the parents had lived, thus getting their places of birth and death, hopefully also then records of possible further children. And the same procedure starts again. If the deceased was married or even divorced, the appertaining Registrar's offices where the marriage and divorce were recorded are contacted in the same manner as described above. The Registrars may help for free, or for a small fee, partly demanded in advance. If in the deceased's belongings other information is found, such as letters, the addressees or senders are contacted by phone, if they are recorded in the appertaining telephone directory, CD-ROM or telephone directory online otherwise by mail. If the letters were written long ago, it is advisable to write registered mail or even returned receipt, then the investigator gets the letter back if the addressee is unknown or moved away, hopefully with the new address. The deceased's bank is contacted likewise. They may hide behind the Data Protection Act, only prepared to answer when a court order is presented to them, but it is definitely an angle to be tried. The (former) landlord, neighbors may also be of good source of help. The landlord may have still the former address of the deceased, cited at the time of his signing the rental agreement, neighbors may have known some visitors or remember cars of visitors. If the deceased was the owner of the premises, land records may help to find a former address as a new starting point for further investigation. Telephone directories may be of great help, especially the old ones, but they are mostly only available at big libraries. Regional telephone companies do not keep copies in most instances. The writer of this essay found persons by thumbing through columns and columns of the telephone directory of Bamberg, but in another instance the international telephone directory service supplied the telephone number of a couple in Tirol/Austria, heirs to about US $250,000. So with two telephone calls, one to the telephone information service and one to the couple to confirm their identity and the case was successfully closed. (NOTE: To obtain the money they had of course to identify themselves by certified documents.) Depending of the age of the deceased, if died at a younger age, Armed Forces records (if the Forces cooperate and not hide behind the DPA), records of a (former) university and college, schools may be of help too. The best is to start with the vital records (in the USA the social security number), telephone directories, then there is a good chance to find heirs or other persons, such as witnesses, neighbors, other documents may also help. Background investigations on individuals An important part of this investigation is similar to ancestry search: Needed information is date of birth, marital status, address of the applicant, (former) employers, schools, colleges, universities, landlords, neighbors, friends are to be contacted, if the client permits it. After the investigator has been satisfied of the client's justified need and an authorization by the applicant has been submitted together with any information available, mainly from the applicant's CV, the financial issue needs to be decided. This depends on the number of sources and how far back the investigation is to be carried out, which in turn depends on the prospective position the applicant is to take, the investigator gets then in touch with the appertaining Registrar's office in order to get information about the date of birth and the marital status of the applicant even if only to have them verified. It may well be that the client forbids that (former) employers, schools, colleges, universities, landlords, neighbors, friends are to be contacted, then the investigator must adhere to that, otherwise he may greatly jeopardize the client. In the USA, the search by means of the social security number credit headers, i.e. a summarized information from databases is obtained, it used to be much more, but here the DPA shows its impact. The information usually contains the date of birth, marital status, current and past addresses, present and employers, bank connections and the so-called credit history: where the applicant has banking and credit cards accounts, the manner of payment (prompt, past due), loans, credits sums and status, at times also evaluation of the applicant's standing. The databases are for the most part accessible online, but most likely for a fee and password guarded. Important searches are police records, court litigation, civic register, land records, at times available online, at times legwork or at least written applications are needed, depending on the states or also whether the investigator has proved his creditability. If permitted by the client another mosaic in the investigation is to contact (former) employers. The aim of that part of the investigation is to find out to what a degree did the applicant adhere to the truth when submitting his CV. Especially the Americans are very much afraid of forgery. The opinion goes that 5% of the documents submitted have been forged. Sometimes the applicant believes that he has submitted a truthful re- port, but personnel department officials have a special "language" to express an opinion which for the applicant and outsiders appear to be good, but in reality this "coded" opinion shows a different picture. The investigator may contact the (former) employers by phone, but it is preferable in most time to do it in writing together with the (copy of the) applicant's authorization, since the employers like to have something in writing in their files because of liability reasons. When the investigator contacts the (former) employers, they have another opportunity to express their opinion about the applicant. However, quite a number hide behind the DPA and albeit the written application would not cooperate, some prefer to given an unofficial opinion by phone. Some just send a copy of the reference supplied at the time to the applicant when he left the company. If the investigator is able to develop the former superior's name, there is a better chance to get detailed information. Experience has shown that the higher the applicant's esteem was at the time with the company the more cooperative the former employer is, since they want to pave the applicant's way and help him still to the best of their ability, often then stating that they much regretted him leaving and that they would have liked to keep him. The longer the time lapse passed is, the less likely it is to get information from the employer: files are destroyed after 7 to 10 years from the time the applicant left the job, companies amalgamate and the files are transferred to places where not all sources contacted know their whereabouts. Such information is not available online, often footwork is needed. A further aspect of the investigation is headed by "EDUCATION", which means re-checking the applicant's statement concerning his former education: schools, college, university. Here again the information is much more easily available in the USA than in other countries. In Germany such entities hide more often behind the DPA than (former) employers. In most cases if at all they need a written application by the investigator as well as the (copy of the) applicant's authorization. It is easier to get the cooperation of the sources if the applicant's tutor is known, it is the same human angle as with (former) employers. Also like in the case of employers' check the more time has passed since the applicant took his courses, the more difficult it is to glean the information for the simple reason since the records are no longer available: were destroyed because of space reasons at least. Credit reports on companies The American bank, EXIM Bank [1] (Export Import Bank) describes their requirements for a credit report on a company. These requirements stand for other credit granters as well as export guarantee insurance granters. I. What a Credit Report Should Include. Credit Reporting Agency reports must be reliable and up to date. A report should state both the date of the report and the date the information was gathered. If the source of the report is not the creator of the report the origin of the report should be stated. The following should be included in such reports: 1.Name, Address and History of the Subject Where the business name and address have been registered should be verified, together with registration numbers and dates. previous names and addresses should also be indicated, particularly in the case of unregistered trade names ("DBA or doing business as") used by sole proprietors. The history of a business, the education, experience and reputation of the principals and the quality of management are important. Any recent changes should be indicated, together with an appraisal of likely trends in the future. 2.Subject's Bankers If this information is available, it is useful to know the name, address, contact, telephone and fax numbers of the branch or branches where the buyer has accounts. The length of the relationship, type of accounts, size of secured and unsecured lines of credit, and opinion of the bank should be given. 3.Ownership, Legal Status and Date of Establishment In the case of partnerships, private and public companies, the names of the major partners or owners (shareholders), and directors should be listed. Connections of the partners or owners with other businesses should be indicated with its nature. The original date of establishment and dates of any changes in legal status should be listed. 4.Description of Activity Some subjects may be engaged in a number of different activities (manufacturing, distributing, wholesaling, etc.). When applicable, the whole range should be described. Names of foreign and domestic suppliers for whom the subject acts as agent, representative or distributor should be listed. Trade references should be listed with their experience. Principal lines of goods and services should be listed. Past, present and future business trends should be assessed. 5.Subject's Standing in the Industry The importance of the standing of the subject in its industry should be indicated together with the range (type) of clients (buyers) it serves. The number of employees should be included. 6.Commercial Morality and Payment Record An opinion on both of these items should be given and supported by evidence based on knowledge and collection experience. 7.Inventory A description and valuation of inventory, along with method of valuation should be included. 8.Financial Condition A subject's financial condition is clearly an essential element for appraising creditworthiness and every effort should be made to provide past and current records (with dates) of assets, liabilities, equity, turnover, income, expenses and profitability of the subject. A. It is appreciated that in the case of sole proprietorships and certain types of companies, figures are not required to be officially published. In such cases, and when detailed figures are not released, estimates should be provided and clearly described as such. If financial statements cannot be supplied, the reasons should be given. B. In the case of companies legally required to publish annual accounts, or of firms who voluntarily supply agencies with financial information, it is helpful to have balance sheets and income statements made available for consecutive years with dates. It should be indicated if the statements are audited or not and who the auditors are. Every effort should be made to include the most current interim statements to reveal the current situation. The following items are of particular importance:
9.Public Sector Entities In the case of subjects in the public sector, where commercial risk is inapplicable, political risk insurance generally covers the risk of failure or refusal to pay. If credit reporting agencies are able to provide information on public sector entities, the reports should, in addition to the information required on private sector subjects as appropriate, include answers to the following questions:
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