One of the documents I’m working on today is an ex parte motion to quiet title. Basically, it’s like “Dear court, please confirm that Party X does in fact own this property” and the court is like “Speak now or forever hold your peace, Everyone Who Might Have Had A Claim To This Property.”
Said motion includes this line:
“To Plaintiff's Information and belief, after diligent inquiry, all of the above captioned Defendants are deceased and as a result their whereabouts are not known.”
I don’t know why this is so funny to me but it might be that I’m imagining some former landowner shouting grouchily from hell? Or, at the very least, a zombie staggering into court waving a dubious quit claim deed or something. “YOU KNEW EXACTLY WHERE I WAS, RUTHANN. YOU PUT ME THERE YOURSELF. YOU’VE IGNORED EVERYTHING WE HAD DRAFTED.”