If no heir is found after the public notification of a death, the so-called default of heirs comes into effect after a certain period of time defined by the relevant court. This means that the legacy passes to the State.

However, very often legitimate heirs do not know about their rights due to events such as war, displacement, emigration, national separation, etc. In such cases, heir searches are very complicated as well as time-consuming and expensive. (... read more)