Below are examples of typical cases that we handle on a regular basis.

1933. Peter Ribalko went to Canada to start a better life. Upon his arrival in his new homeland, he worked hard and saved every penny to sponsor his wife and two children who he left back in Ukraine. Alas – his dream to see his family never came true.

1937. Peter’s wife was taken to prison by the Stalin regime. She was considered the spouse of a foreigner, which, at that time, was considered a crime in itself. Their two children were put in an orphanage.

2004. Peter Ribalko died. He never had another family. He did not know whether he had ever become a granddad.

This is all we knew about Peter Ribalko, who died without a Last Will & Testament, when the probate attorney asked that we locate the decedent’s children or grandchildren who may possibly be living in Ukraine. The attorney was able to find one letter that Peter’s wife sent to her husband in 1935 describing in detail the simple life of their ordinary Ukranian family. We perused the letter and found some leads that enabled us to locate Peter’s only grandson. ...And the money that Peter had saved for his family went to his legitimate heir.

A Delaware attorney contacted our company and asked that we identify and locate the aunts, uncles and first cousins of the late George Johnson who died intestate. The attorney was certain that the decedent never had nieces or nephews, as his only brother was never married. After spending a few hours on the case, not only had we established that George’s brother was married and divorced, we had learned that he had one son from his marriage. We located the son shortly after and he inherited his uncle’s estate.

Mike Smith was married three times, each marriage ending in a bitter divorce and full custody of his children by his ex-wives. Mr. Smith was the flamboyant type of guy, so seeing his kids was not his priority. After his death, friends told the probate attorney that Mike may have had six or seven children, but nobody knew their names, ages or whereabouts. We located the marriage record of Mike and his third wife and shortly after identified and located all his seven children, six of whom were living at that time.