And the lawyers who didn't do it right can be a reason qualified forensic genealogists get hired to straighten out the genealogy. :-) Dee > On December 30, 2014 at 8:01 AM Michael Ramage via > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Sharon asked: "1. Can deceased descendants be named plaintiffs in a > lawsuit?" > > In most states in the U.S., one cannot leally sue someone that is deceased > unless they raise an estate for the deceased person. This is because a dead > person is no longer a legal person that can be sued. I have seen this trip > up some plaintiffs' lawyers who had their lawsuits (that they filed just > before the statute of limitations ran) dismissed (they were guilty of > malpractice for not knowing the law). > > When a quiet title lawsuit is filed to attempt to clear title on real > estate, mineral rights, oil & gas etc., one does still see the known > defendants (usually the last owners of record who are usually long deceased > and their already known kin) being named with words such as "their heirs and > assigns" as a catch-all phrase. Whether that is legal to extinguish the > legal rights of the unnamed heirs is a constitutional question that may be > answered differently in the various jurisdictions at different time periods. > [Due diligence required to locate missing and unknown owners or their > heirs. Deer Park Lumber, Inc. v. Major, 348 Pa.Super. 625, 559 A.2d 941 > (1989). This is so that proper notice of the action may be given to > interested parties as required by due process of law. Peralta v. Heights > Med. Ctr., Inc., 485 U.S. 80 (1988).] > > Michael > > This email is from: > Michael S. Ramage, J.D., Certified Genealogist(SM) > Locating Heirs Professionally, Legally and Ethically > 720 Argyle Road > Wynnewood, PA 19096 > (484) 437-8827 > [email protected] > http://www.ForensicGenealogist.Pro