Marissa-Senior Probate Researcher

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An accredited genealogist with a degree in family history, Marissa has been a professional genealogist since 2006, and has expertise in family history research in many countries and enjoys both traditional and probate research. Her portfolio includes research on high-profile celebrities for shows such as Who Do You Think You Are?, as well as testifying in probate cases she had researched. Marissa’s love of history and focus on detail provides clients with answers to even the most difficult research questions.

Education and Training

Marissa is Accredited as a German Genealogy Researcher through ICAPGen. She graduated from Brigham Young University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Family History and Genealogy.

Specialties

Specialties: Jewish Genealogy Research in Eastern Europe, Germany, Russia, Poland, France, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Lithuanian Genealogy. She also specializes in probate research and heads up the Forensic/Probate research team at Legacy Tree.

Experience

Marissa has worked as a professional genealogist since 2006 with two years at Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation conducting research to confirm and correct family trees submitted with DNA samples. After that she worked for just over a year as the head genealogist for a probate research firm before going exclusively into business for herself. She became an Accredited Genealogist® in 2011 with the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen), demonstrating her skills and expertise as a professional genealogist.

In 2018 she accepted a position with Legacy Tree Genealogists and is a Senior Researcher. In addition to mentoring less experienced researchers, she takes some of our most difficult U.S. and European research cases, as well as regularly conducting forensic research to identify heirs for estates and land cases. She has testified twice in probate cases and her work stands up to the scrutiny of attorneys, judges, and genealogists alike.

Marissa grew up in California and now lives near Salt Lake and the newly renamed FamilySearch Library (formerly the Family History Library) with her husband and children. She enjoys baking, crocheting, and reading historical fiction and spy novels in her free time. She also recently got back into cheesemaking, an interest she shared with her mom, who passed away a few years ago.