I am curious about the website design. Perhaps Alan's wife could help. I am dealing with a probate researcher in Paris and all is going well despite the language. I just found the website unusual. Here is the link: http://www.coutot-roehrig.com/

What do you find unusual/what are you curious about?

Animals on the website. Seemed rather whimsical for a professional website. Cultural differences?

"Our essential mission: to find heirs in the context of a succession"

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
"Our essential mission: to find heirs in the context of a succession"

Perhaps they're harkening back to heraldric animals?

(The lions, bears, unicorns, leopards, elk, eagles, etc. displayed on various family coat of arms.)

They're not unionized.

Well, I directed my wife to the website, and she said she didn't find it unusual.

That doesn't surprise me her answer. I've experienced quite a few instances--particularly in Paris and particularly among the, let's say, upper-class French gentry--of eccentric, outré type behavior in France. Well, eccentric in any case to this American boy from Jersey.

So yeah, my wife looked at it as perfectly normal and acceptable for a business website. Those frogs, man, I tell ya'. They're so weird.

Wow - that website is... unusual. I, too, would have been skeptical in its authenticity.

Thank you Alan! Prior to this I had to deal with a ragpicker who cleaned my deceased Aunt's furniture and other belongings to be sold at auction. I thought ragpickers were long gone.

Here's the entire website Googly-translated, if it helps...

French to English

I didn't read the whole thing, but it looks like they search for heirs for inheritances; the stats they put up show the high rate of out-of-wedlock birth. That would understandably make paternity issues complicated.

I'm amused by the "family photo" of various dogs, implying (to me) we're all mutts.

This is funny. My French MIL was the one executor for an USA living French couple. When the passed recently, part of her duties were to research and confirm no living heirs could make claim to the estate. She had to hire a genealogist to prove no living heirs. Once a certain time passed or hours researched by the genealogist, the estate could be dispersed.

years ago Honda had a whole add campaign featuring Weimaraner dogs. How did you find a site like that in the first place?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
They contacted me regarding settlement of my Aunt's estate. She was a French citizen and lived in Paris most of her life.

The whole popular DNA thing with 23andMe and Ancestry.com has opened up a whole new world of previously unknown relatives. Sometimes it works out great (if enough time has passed and both parties are doing well on their own), sometimes it's a disaster. I've had friends and relatives who have experienced both.

I'll bet most people here know of a family in which a previously unknown half-sibling has shown up in the past few years.