Are New York inheritance cases always this slow?

[Beano]

A distant relative died intestate in New York in 2006. Since then, an 'heir hunters' type firm has been working with a New York attorney to track down relatives (in UK and South Africa). 16 years later and we don't seem to be getting anywhere fast, even though we believe all relatives have been traced. I read in another forum that NY attorneys are notorious for sitting on such cases, presumably for their own advantage. This may be a completely unfair slur of course... We have no direct communication with the attorney office, only via the UK heir hunter firm. 16 years seems an awful long time to me. Is this typical for such cases? Does anyone have any similar experience?

[dslippy]

It does seem an awfully long time, but I have no experience of NY heir hunting expeditions, so . .
Best of luck.

[des8]

Could it be that your relationship to the deceased is too remote for you to inherit under New York State intestacy rules, and so just have not been contacted?

NY state intestacy distribution: https://law.justia.com/codes/new-yor...4/part-1/4-1.1

[Beano]

Could it be that your relationship to the deceased is too remote for you to inherit under New York State intestacy rules, and so just have not been contacted?

NY state intestacy distribution: https://law.justia.com/codes/new-yor...4/part-1/4-1.1

Very interesting info, thanks for sharing. I don't think that's the problem here but will certainly bear it in mind.