Genealogical Search and sources
You often hear about inheritances that fall from the sky into the hands of unknowing heirs, wealth left by an unknown relative, the famous “American uncle” that no-one has ever heard of.
Well, these stories do not only exist in films or in popular imagination. Every case worked by E.D.Genealogia is the story of a discovery, a “revelation”, a unique story as unique as every family.
Sometimes the heirs know nothing about the existence or the origin of the inheritance they are eligible to receive, and this may be for various reasons, one being the phenomenon of emigration which has always affected people throughout the world. During its long and troubled national history, Italy has seen this phenomenon repeat itself over and over again. Wars, famine, economic crises and family dynamics: these are all factors that have triggered internal and external movement and which has affected over 18 million Italians.
Within this context, the heirs we trace are the first expression and last legacy of their ancestors and their personal story, a panorama where E.D.Genealogia acts as a bridge with the past to unite two new presents, accompanying families in the discovery of their origins and above all, the revelation of their inheritance rights.
In Italy, when a person passes away without any recognised heirs or without leaving a will, a professional is appointed to manage the inheritance left by the deceased.
These administrators, mainly lawyers or accountants, have the task of managing the deceased person’s patrimony so that it is devolved to the legitimate heirs (if found) or to the State, 10 years after the death.
Often for the professionals entrusted to manage an inheritance, the search for heirs is either very difficult or in some cases, impossible. The mission of E.D.Genealogia is to carry out this research, even the most complex, to find the beneficiaries who know nothing about their inheritance rights and hand over to them an estate which would otherwise be devolved to the State.
The E.D.Genealogia team boasts consolidated experience in probate genealogy and, using the most reliable sources and the utmost professionalism, achieves rapid and concrete results.
In particular, the Historikerkanzlei group, our Company belongs to, counts 5 offices in the most important Austrian cities, with headquarters in Vienna, branches in Hungary, Croatia and Romania as well as a network of collaborators throughout the world. This guarantees E.D.Genealogia a strong and efficient presence on an international level and, in particular in the countries where most Italians emigrated to such as the United States, Canada, South America, Australia and Germany.
The genealogical researcher mainly works using municipal archives, State Archives and parochial archives; in Italy, these archives preserve our oldest historic documents.
Until recent times, human life has regularly been affected by three fundamental events: birth, marriage and death. Since the beginning of modern history, these three moments have been registered and regulated by society. Thanks to these sources, the genealogist is able to meticulously and scrupulously reconstruct families, determining the most numerous and articulated family units, starting from a single person.
On the basis of the data collected, the family tree is drawn up and subsequently used to trace the closest eligible heirs. In Italy, it’s possible to inherit up to a far-reaching sixth degree of kinship! Here is an example of a family tree up to the fourth and sixth degree of kinship:
