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Tips for Civilians
Finding People & Data About Them

About the Author: Mary Ann Boyle, PhD is a licensed private detective and forensic genealogist who finds missing persons and conducts genealogical investigations for court cases. She shares her secrets for investigating missing persons and identifying kindred.

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Why Would You Want a Copy of an Estate File?

When looking for missing persons, the death of any relative might be helpful. If you are looking for John Jones Jr, this is an ugly task because of the commonness of the name. Perhaps you know that John Jr’s father, John Jones Sr, lived in Boca Raton, and died there. You can request the estate file of John Jones Sr from the probate court. If there is an estate file, the names and addresses of family members will be included. Presto, the address of John Jones Jr. will be found.

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Tricks for Finding Obituaries

Review all obituaries in appropriate newspaper for anticipated publication date. This technique will pick up alternate spellings of surnames or hyphenated names. Review obituaries in hometown newspape

Online Teaser Sites Can Drive You Crazy

Many online search sites used to offer telephone numbers, addresses, employment info and dates of birth. This is before they decided to become profitable and only offer teaser data with the promise of

Why Would You Want an Obituary?

Obituaries are very important in finding missing persons and information about people. If you are looking for the family of a deceased person, the obituary will give the names and often the location o

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