800-872-3429

called on some family history

A man identifying himself as John Burquest left a message on my unlisted home telephone asking for me by my first name only.  He stated that he was with Kemp and Associates, and that this call had to do with an estate and that I was a possible beneficiary.  However, he never stated in his message that he was an attorney (he stated, however, that this estate had to do with family members who's names I did recognized. Strange thing is, the one family member who's name he sated had died almost a decade before my birth and their estate would have been divided amongst those who survived them at that time).  Sounds fishy to me.  Will do more research before I call him back.

Here's what I found regarding Kemp and Associates: they are NOT a legal team, nor do they practice law.  They identify themselves as "an International Probate Research firm specializing in forensic genealogy" (per their website).  Basically, they can tell you if you are a direct decedent of someone (they use the Mormon's genealogy library in Salt Lake City/public records to do this); however, they CAN NOT tell you whether you are entitled to an inheritance (because this would be practicing law).  Also, by agreeing to use their services, you must pay them a percentage of your inheritance (again, per their website, under the heading "Attorneys").  If you want to know more about Kemp and Associates, go to http://www.kempandassociates.com/index.html.  Be careful and don't let anybody swindle you!

Calls saying he has money from a deceased relative.  A real scam artist!

Derek Gersdorf called to say he was investigating an estate of an heir to my husband's grandmother who died 40 years ago.  Sounds fishy to me.

Robert Barrett called and left a message concerning my deceased father-in-law.(10/2000.  He said he was with Estate investigators, and was investigating his death and probate.  My husband, who was executor, is an attorney, and believed it was a scam.  I am contacting the PA Attorney General, as I believe this is in violation of the "Do not call list."

John Burquest from Kemp and Associates has just reached out to me and my family.  He basically said the same thing to us as he did to you.  He also Fed Exed me a package of a document to sign...  and yes this does seem wierd.  Did your research provide any insight into the legitamacy of Kemp and Associates?

Kemp and Associates does work on estates and they are legitimate as they have never asked for any money, but I know that they receive a percentage of whatever the family receives. I think a scam artist would ask for money up front or for sensitive infortmation. They don't tell you who the deceased family member is until you sign the contract.

www.kempandassociates.com. Looks legit.

They are a legitimate company.

When someone dies, and there are no know heirs, the government keeps the estate. This company finds heirs and gets the government to give them back their estate. They are paid a percentage of the return.

Filing a complaint with the DO NOT CALL registry will be pointless. There is no violation in contacting someone to get them their rightful estate back.

I received a call recently .. they gave me details on the phone of the other heirs they link to someone on my deceased grandomthers side..  they named many other relatives I am familiar with and gave me detaisl..  If we do inherite anything from the esatate .. the esate pays their fee ..not us .. They find heirs to estates .. that otherwise would go to the govt.  This is a legitimate company ..

I received a call on 01-26-09 from Derek A Gersdorf representing Kemp and associates. He refered to my mother's and grandmother's side of the family. My mother died five years ago and my grandmother died fifty-five years ago! It sounds like a scam. He did send info overnight and an agreement (they get 33% which seems standard). The forms didn't ask for any personal info like SSNs or bank account numbers. I checked my answering and didn't see anything related to Kemp or Derek.

This is not a scam.  I used to work for a competitor company of Kemp. Kemp is a well-known and established company in this small industry. They locate heirs where the heirs are either unknown or missing (whereabouts unknown).  There is a lot of detailed genealogical research that goes into locating missing heirs, so you can bet if they contacted you, they are pretty certain that you would have a legitimate claim.  The reason they don't reveal the name of the deceased until after you sign the contract is because you could then go around them and their work is for nothing.  Note that a legitimate company works on a contingency fee basis - they are ONLY paid if YOU are paid so there really is no risk to you.

I read your posting on 800 notes the other day and thought I would reply as I'm not sure you understand the service that Kemp & Assoc provides.  I am an employee of Kemp & Associates and have been for the past 15 years.  Kemp & Associates is a Probate Research firm that specializes in helping to identify missing our unknown heirs to estates.  To date we have documented the interest of tens of thousands of rightful beneficiaries who would otherwise have been unaware of their rights to inherit.

Kemp & Associates certainly CAN tell you whether you are entitled to inherit from an estate - this is exactly what we specialize in.  This does not in any way constitute practicing law, of course and we do not claim to practice law.  We are an investigative firm and our principal goal is to identify those individuals that are entitled to inherit from legitimate estates in Probate.

Kemp & Associates is a legitmate firm registered in Salt Lake City with the Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce etc.  You can easily verify our credibility and reputation with a simple phone call to these agencies.  While we understand the need to be cautious today, we also would request that you refrain from spreading the suggestion that we are not a credible and upstanding firm.  This is detrimental to our business and makes my job that much more difficult.

If you should care to contact me I would be happy to speak with you to discuss Kemp & Associates and my position with the firm.

Sincerely,
Robert Barrett
Estate Researcher.

We recently had contact from this company - Have you learned anything about this company since your initial contacT?

I did my homework and here's how I understand it.

I die and i'm worth $250,000 but for some reason I forget to tell anyone that I have a will hidden in the floor boards of my house.

-SO no one files for probate as a heir to my $250,000.00

In most cases the state you die in will get your money.

So companies like Kemp and Associates go through the trouble of finding your missing heirs(2nd cousins, great aunts kids, half siblings, cousins once removed, etc.).
- They receieve a portion of the estate and pay for all the costs upfront to stake your claim to the estate.

I did some research and there are other companies that do this, just seems weird because its such a small industry, and they're talking about people that have been dead for so long, but I bet these are the people the money is coming through.

I'm no lawyer but it seems pretty legit to me, I haven't given them any real personal information, they're taking all the risk that a court really will give me cash for someone I probably only saw once 30 years ago at a family reunion.

Good Luck!

WHAT A SCAM. Do Not sign anything.  33 perceont is crazy and other legal fees are deducted in addition to their fees.  They have an entire group of other attorneys that get rich off your relatives.  If they call you or contact you they pretty much know you are an heir.  Do the research yourself and get your own lawyer; my family to lost over $40,000 by not understanding the true cost of their "services."

WHAT A SCAM. Do Not sign anything.  33 perceont is crazy and other legal fees are deducted in addition to their fees.  They have an entire group of other attorneys that get rich off your relatives.  If they call you or contact you they pretty much know you are an heir.  Do the research yourself and get your own lawyer; my family to lost over $40,000 by not understanding the true cost of their "services."  I wish someone would have warned me.

WHAT A SCAM. Do Not sign anything.  33 perceont is crazy and other legal fees are deducted in addition to their fees.  They have an entire group of other attorneys that get rich off your relatives.  If they call you or contact you they pretty much know you are an heir.  Do the research yourself and get your own lawyer; my family to lost over $40,000 by not understanding the true cost of their "services."

A man named "John Burquist" of "Kemp & Assoc." called us saying that he was working on the Thompson estate and trying to locate beneficiaries.  You can reach "John" at x113.