Etude Généalogique Pérotin

What Etude Généalogique Pérotin does

Bureau Pérotin is a Bordeaux-headquartered, family-owned genealogical research firm founded in 1899 that specializes in successional genealogy in France. The firm identifies and locates unknown heirs on behalf of notaries managing estate settlements, represents the interests of those heirs through attorney-in-fact agreements, and investigates unclaimed or forgotten assets (bank accounts, real estate, financial investments, burial vaults, intellectual property) in France and abroad. Its primary customers are notaries (who act as the main professional referral channel) and the individual heirs the firm locates, with secondary institutional clients including insurance companies, banks, lawyers, and international parties involved in cross-border successions.

The firm's underlying technology is a proprietary data estate rather than a software platform: a unique private archive of 19th-century regional genealogical collections, an index of approximately 1 million 20th-century death notices from regional press, and an internal civil-status database covering millions of living and deceased persons. Researchers additionally hold a special French government exemption to consult recent civil-status documents — a privileged access source not available to the public or most competitors. Operations are organized into two internal teams (research and settlement) and the firm maintains offices in Bordeaux and Paris, supported by an international network of correspondent partners.

The revenue model is essentially contingency-based, with average fees of 15% (and up to 36%) of an heir's net share in the estate under management, supplemented by a published schedule of fixed-fee verification services (€250–€2,400 TTC). Distribution is entirely relationship-driven: cases originate primarily through notary referrals and the firm's own direct mail outreach to identified heirs. The company is wholly owned by the Pérotin family across five generations, currently co-directed by Benoît and Côme Pérotin since 2016, audited annually by KPMG, and a member of the Chambre des Généalogistes successoraux de France since 1947.

Name

Etude Généalogique Pérotin

Legal name

Bureau Pérotin

Website

https://perotin.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1899

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Bureau Pérotin is a Bordeaux-based, family-owned successional genealogy firm founded in 1899 that identifies and locates unknown heirs for French notaries, represents those heirs in estate settlements, and investigates unclaimed assets domestically and abroad, operating primarily on contingency fees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Succession Genealogy Services

NAICS

Trusts, Estates, and Agency Accounts (52592), Trust, Fiduciary, and Custody Activities (523991)

akta.pro primary industry

Estate Administration & Probate Services (FSAAANAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Litigation Support & Civil Investigations (Witness/Asset/Skip Tracing) (BPAKAEAE)

Keywords

• Succession genealogy services
• Heir identification research
• Estate settlement representation
• Unclaimed asset recovery
• Probate research services

Headquarters

HQ city

Bordeaux

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Contingency / performance-based fees on inheritance shares: Fees calculated as a percentage of the heir's net share in the estate. The percentage varies by degree of kinship: 15% for direct line/surviving spouse, 20% for privileged collateral, 25% for ordinary collateral up to 4th degree, 30% beyond 4th degree. Average fee is 15% of net share before inheritance tax. This is a pure contingency model — the firm is only paid if the estate is successful.
2. Flat-rate research and verification fees: Fixed-fee services for specific genealogical verification tasks: €250-300 for verifying absence of heirs entitled to statutory reserve; €500-600 for verifying estate distribution; €780 + €96 per beneficiary found for burial vault founder heir searches; €2,400 for special lengthy or difficult verifications.
3. Mandataire / attorney-in-fact representation fees: The firm acts as representative of heirs' interests through attorney-in-fact agreements, with fees determined as a percentage of each beneficiary's entitled share. This includes defending heirs against other parties, liquidating assets, and facilitating estate settlement.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Bureau Pérotin performs genealogical research to identify and locate unknown heirs in succession cases, often at the request of notaries. It then represents those heirs under an attorney-in-fact (mandataire) agreement to settle estates, defend their interests against other parties, and liquidate assets. The firm also investigates and recovers unclaimed or forgotten assets in France and abroad, including bank accounts, real estate, financial investments, and occasionally intellectual property rights, on a contingency-fee basis.

Product overview

Etude Généalogique Pérotin operates as a single unified genealogical research and succession management service, not a software platform. The core offering comprises three integrated services: genealogical research for identifying and locating heirs, representation of beneficiaries to protect their interests and facilitate estate settlement, and asset investigation to identify and claim unclaimed or forgotten assets. The company also provides fixed-fee verification services for heir status and estate distribution. A distinctive asset is the company's private genealogical archives accumulated since 1899, including approximately 1 million death notice records and millions of civil status entries. The company publishes an annual estate settlement handbook and supports academic publications through University of Bordeaux collaboration. All services operate on a success-based fee model with transparent published rates ranging from €250-€2,400 for fixed fees, and 15-36% of heir's share for contingency arrangements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Recherches généalogiques (Genealogical Research)
• Représentation des ayants droit (Heir Representation / Mandataire Services)
• Recherche et revendication d'actifs (Asset Investigation and Claims)

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Chambre des Généalogistes successoraux de France (Chamber of Successoral Genealogists of France)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1947Bureau Pérotin has been a member of the Chambre des Généalogistes successoraux de France since 1947, a testament to its integrity and dedication to the profession. The firm participates in the association's ethics committees (commissions de déontologie et d'éthique) and adheres to the chamber's code of ethics.
• KPMG (Cabinet d'audit international)minorOthersBureau Pérotin undergoes an annual audit by KPMG, an international audit firm, which confirms the firm's compliance and integrity in all operations. This provides independent verification of the company's financial practices and client fund management.
• Caisse des Dépôts (CDC)minorOthersThe settlement team can receive the balance of liquidated assets into a dedicated client account at the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC), a French public financial institution. This ensures total transparency during distribution to heirs.
• Network of partners and correspondents in France and internationallycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThe firm maintains a network of partners and correspondents across France and internationally to enable rapid action on cases and cross-border succession matters.
• Université de Bordeaux — Master 2 de droit notarialminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBureau Pérotin provides support for the Master 2 program in Notarial Law at the University of Bordeaux. Students produce themed legal brochures that are also made available to the general public in digital form. Topics include family name law, European succession law, life insurance, and more.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Emerging players

• MyHeritage: Global genealogy platform with DNA testing and family tree databases. While primarily consumer-focused today, its data assets and brand could enable expansion into commercial heir-finding, creating future competitive pressure on traditional succession genealogists.
• Geneanet: Leading French genealogy platform with extensive user-contributed family tree and archival data. Currently focused on hobbyist genealogy rather than commercial succession work, but represents the most credible French digital-native threat to incumbent succession genealogists.

Direct peers

• Finders International: UK-based international heir-tracing and probate genealogy firm. Offers directly comparable services (heir location, asset search, missing beneficiary tracing) with international reach, mirroring Bureau Pérotin's cross-border succession capability.
• Heir Hunters (UK): UK heir-finding firm offering probate research and beneficiary tracing services. Comparable in service mix and contingency-based fee model, though operating primarily in the UK market with different regulatory framework.
• Coutot-Rohmer: France's largest succession genealogist, founded in 1904. Offers the same core services as Bureau Pérotin — heir identification, estate distribution verification, and asset search — and is the most direct head-to-head competitor in the French succession market.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks2 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/etude-g%C3%A9n%C3%A9alogique-p%C3%A9rotin

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Etude Généalogique Pérotin