Build the heir tree from an obituary
Lesson 2 of 6 · Find the owner nobody can find
1 · Learn the move · Template pattern
An obituary is the most useful document in heirs property work and the least reliable. It names the living and the dead, spouses in brackets, grandchildren by first name, and it is written by a grieving family with no duty to be complete. It says nothing at all about who inherits - that turns on a will, the state's intestacy rules and what the probate court did. Ask a model to 'build the heir tree' and it will assign shares. So pin the template first: one row per person, the relationship exactly as the obituary states it, the line it came from, living or deceased only where the text says, and a column for the record that would confirm it. There is no column for inheritance, and you say so.
Build a table from this obituary with exactly these columns: PERSON | RELATIONSHIP AS STATED | QUOTED LINE | LIVING OR DECEASED PER TEXT | RECORD THAT WOULD CONFIRM. Where the text does not say, the cell reads [NEEDS: record]. No column for heirship or shares, and do not add one.
2 · Your turn. You write the prompt
Parcel 09-3310-000 in Marrow County is deeded to Orval and Ida Fenwick. The collector's office told you Orval died. You found his obituary from Tully Gap's weekly paper. Before you write to anyone you want the family laid out. Write the prompt that fixes the table before the model reads a word.
Write the prompt for this scenario as given, or swap in a real one from your own work. The score works the same either way.
Remember: the AI sees only your prompt, not this page. If the situation isn't in your prompt, it doesn't exist.
Optional. These shape the output when you run your prompt below, not your score.