If a will provides for a share to go to the child or children of a deceased child, how do you go about finding out if

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Good evening, are you the trustee of the estate?

Does the Will specify the children by name or "any children of mine (or other general statements)"?

Unfortunately there is no formal rules for this, but there are general tips:

The estate trustee should first try and identify the beneficiaries themselves before embarking on hiring professional assistance. When conducting their own investigation, estate trustees should keep careful and detailed notes of the steps taken and the results.

As a suggestion, consider contacting family, friends, neighbours, employers or coworkers of the deceased including other professionals such as the deceased’s lawyer, or accountant or other leads. Another suggestion would be to search all of the deceased’s social media accounts. Consider searching Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, to name but a few to learn who the deceased may have “friended,” or connected with and attempt to discover whether any of those individuals have information as to the identity of the next of kin of the deceased.

Another option, investigate historical or current public records at the Office of the Registrar General (Ontario). Generally, the estate trustee has the authority to request information with respect to death, birth, and marriage records.24 The Archives of Ontario also has several self-help research guides. 25 Additionally, there are several genealogical websites and search engines that may assist in identifying beneficiaries (for example, www.ancestry.ca). If none of these options produce results, examining the personal effects of the deceased may produce leads, including review of correspondence, diaries, and so on.

An estate trustee may wish to consider hiring a professional researcher or a genealogist to assist if their own efforts fail to identify the names of any next of kin. Accredited researchers may be able to access databases not available to the estate trustee.

I think there is only so much you can do without hiring a professional. If you have exhausted your search, you can document your efforts and release the outstanding funds.

Please let me know if I can assist you further.