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<p class="MsoNormal">Hi Listmates:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In a King County matter, I’m serving as an agent for absentee beneficiaries on two related estates (elderly parent and adult child). Thanks to a previous recommendation from this list serv, I was able to find a private investigator who
located a potential heir residing in California.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As you can imagine, proof of the identify of this person is important before making a distribution from the estate. What would be ideal, of course, is a certified birth certificate. At this time, that’s not something the heir has in his
possession and it appears that obtaining a certified copy of the birth certificate is supposed to take between 5-7 weeks.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What I received in the mail from the heir is a certified death certificate from California that shows the heir’s name as well as the name of his grandmother which is how he’s connected to the estate. The heir also sent a photocopy of a
current driver’s license as well as a photocopy of his Social Security card (matching name and signature).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Is there guidance or common practice re: identity proof in probate matters? This is a new issue for me. I want to be prudent but not unreasonable.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thank you, Adrienne<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">--<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Adrienne Keith Wills, Attorney/Mediator</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-variant:small-caps;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-variant:small-caps">Wills Law Firm Inc. | </span>
<span style="color:black"><a href="http://www.willslawfirm.com/"><span style="color:blue">www.WillsLawFirm.com</span></a></span><span style="font-variant:small-caps"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color:black">Helping family law and estate planning clients
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">1700 Seventh Ave, Suite 2100 | Seattle, WA 98101</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Tel. (206) 523-3047 | Fax (206) 219-6714
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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