Evidence to rule out each ‘category’ of family member needs to be located before moving on to the next.
The step-by-step search
Searches to identify who would be entitled to Marcel’s estate began once Letters of Administration were granted by the NSW Supreme Court.
The hospital knew Marcel’s date and place of birth, so his birth certificate was quickly obtained. It revealed that Marcel’s parents, Robert and Louise, were born in France. It also revealed that he had four older siblings – names that matched some of the photos found in his belongings.
After confirming that Marcel didn’t have a partner or children, his connection to France meant that the search headed to Europe.
Unlike in Australia, most European countries register births, deaths, and marriages at the local council level. Paris, where Robert was born and where he married Louise, is broken into 20 registration districts. Robert and Louise didn’t remain in one place for long, so each district needed to be checked. Documents for them were eventually located in four of these districts.
Louise says birth registrations for each district needed to be checked individually.
“After finding Marcel’s parent’s birth and marriage records, we needed to identify all their children from both before and after their marriage. Half siblings and full siblings are equally entitled to an estate, but only full siblings would have been listed on Marcel’s birth certificate.”
Once the French searches were complete, the search for Marcel’s family returned to Australia.
While his parents had since passed away in New South Wales, his siblings had relocated to Queensland and Victoria.
Further investigation revealed Marcel was the last surviving sibling of five.
Eight nieces and nephews were found alive and were all entitled to a share of his $1.4 million estate.