The field of our activity in the heir search business includes mainly the handling of decedents' estates on both a national and international basis, if all or some of a decedent's family history and, consequently, heirs are unknown. In parallel, we further will secure documents worldwide as may be needed to establish the heirship.

As a general rule, services will be rendered to
Probate Courts
Administrators of decedents' estates
Executors of wills
known heirs, particularly to account for the unknown parts of family histories in cases of a partly unknown heirship

Our services will generally be rendered free of charge to such originators. Fee percentages which in most German matters will be somewhere around 20% to 25% of the net distributive shares (plus pro rata expenses and value-added tax), depending on the complicacy of each individual case, and approximately 33% in international matters will be negotiated with heirs located by us. All expenses will be paid up front from our pockets. Therefore, no payments will have to be made in advance by potential heirs. The fee will be due at the time of distribution and will be withheld from the distributive funds. Should our efforts fail to meet with success, no charge will be made and all expenses will be borne by us.

Our staff of 25 genealogical and legal experts (including notary juniors licensed by the German State of Wuerttemberg, attorneys and counsellors at law and licensed administrative specialists) possess profound knowledge and have at their disposal important international contacts. During several decades of genealogical research work, contacts have been established creating a network of cooperating heir search companies in many countries to conduct researches and secure documentation at the site of the investigation, without any additional expense to the heirs. For instance, we entertain business relations with more than 50 partners in all states of the United States as well as with a number of colleagues in Canada, South America, Australia, Africa, Asia, and all of Europe. Areas of special attention include the former eastern provinces of Germany (East Prussia, West Prussia, Pomerania, Upper and Lower Silesia, Sudetenland) and other eastern European areas. By the same token, our expert staff is in frequent communication with all major national and international genealogical associations and archives.

High technical skills and qualification standards of our staff warrant competent and efficient handling of decedents' estates from the onset of the search for the heirs through the time of distribution.

An impressive stock of own genealogical archives, accumulated during several decades, combined with the use of recent information engineering, is of great benefit to our clients and makes Hoerner Bank AG one of the leading specialists in this sector of services.