35 Years Serving Our Clients – Családfa Kft. (Family Tree Ltd.) has been researching heirs in Central and Eastern Europe since 1991. The company is celebrating its 35th anniversary with more than 2,000 successfully completed cases and tens of thousands of satisfied clients.

Budapest, 2026

Why Is Heir Research Necessary?

The fate of an estate often depends on whether the heirs can be found.

Migration, emigration, historical events, the Holocaust, or simply the weakening of family ties can create situations in which locating potential heirs becomes the greatest challenge for the authorities handling an estate.

This is where professional heir researchers can help.

Since 1991, Családfa Kft. has specialized in identifying and locating unknown or difficult-to-reach heirs through archival and civil registry sources, available records and databases, and an extensive network of international contacts.

35 Years of Experience in Numbers

• Continuously active in heir research and estate-related cases since 1991
• A presence in 20 countries, with four offices and an extensive international partner network
• More than 2,000 successfully completed cases
• Tens of thousands of satisfied clients
• 35 years of professional experience
• A leading heir research company in the region

Drawing on its international network and more than three decades of professional experience, Családfa Kft. provides assistance in cross-border cases as well.

How Does an Heir Researcher Work?

During an investigation, an old name, a place of birth, a former address, or even a fragment of a family memory can provide an important starting point.

Using these limited pieces of information, the company’s researchers reconstruct family relationships and search for individuals who may be entitled to inherit.

The process involves archival and civil registry sources, available databases, and, naturally, the company’s more than three decades of professional experience.

The aim is to locate and identify heirs and to support clients through the subsequent stages of the estate process, working, where necessary, with authorities, notaries, and legal professionals in multiple countries. Importantly, Családfa Kft. not only locates potential heirs but also documents their status as heirs with official records.

Who Can Benefit from Heir Research?

Heir research can provide valuable assistance to notaries, attorneys, municipalities, and institutions when not all parties involved in an estate case can be identified or located.

It can also assist private individuals who learn, as a result of an heir search, that they are entitled to an inheritance from a distant relative.

These cases are often about much more than the distribution of an estate: finding an heir can create an opportunity to revive a long-lost family connection and bring relatives together again.

35 Years

Thirty-five years ago, the internet did not yet exist, and naturally there were no online sources available. Research was conducted in person in libraries, archives, and parish offices.

Today, the internet, digitization, and artificial intelligence are continuously transforming research methods and providing access to an unprecedented volume of information.

Yet a family history is not simply a collection of data. Recognizing connections requires professional experience, critical evaluation of sources, and, in many cases, personal contact.

After 35 years, Családfa Kft. continues to believe that expertise and responsible representation of clients are the keys to long-term success.