1. Overview
The Family Tree Builder & Affidavit of Heirship Generator is a self-contained web application that runs entirely in your browser. No account, subscription, or internet connection is required after the initial page load.
| Function | What it does |
|---|
| 🌳 Family Tree Builder | Add people, fill in dates and places, and connect them as spouses, children, parents, and siblings. Import or export GEDCOM files compatible with Ancestry, FamilySearch, Geni, and most genealogy software. |
| ✍️ Affidavit Generator | Produce a legally-formatted Affidavit of Heirship in RTF or DOCX format, pre-populated from the family tree. Supports multi-state use across all 50 U.S. states. |
💡 All personal data stays in your browser — nothing is uploaded to any server. Use 💾 Save Workspace regularly to preserve your work.
2. Getting Started
When you first open the app, the home screen offers two paths: importing an existing GEDCOM file, or building a new tree from scratch. A demo tree is also available.
2.1 Starting from Scratch
Use this when you don't have a GEDCOM file and want to build the tree from the ground up.
- Click "🌱 Start a New Family Tree" — the upload panel collapses and an empty tree view appears.
- Click "➕ Add Person" in the toolbar. A blank edit panel opens with the name field focused.
- Fill in the person's details. Changes save automatically as you type.
- Repeat for each family member, then use the ➕ Add buttons in each person's panel to connect relationships.
✔ Add all people first, then connect them — it's faster than adding relationships one at a time.
2.2 Importing a GEDCOM File
If you've already built a tree in Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, or another app, export it as a .ged file and upload it here.
- Drag and drop the .ged file onto the upload zone, or click Browse to select it.
- The tree loads instantly. Use the search box and filter chips (All / Deceased Only / Living Only / Status Unknown) to navigate.
- Click any person's name to open their edit panel.
💡 You can import multiple GEDCOM files. The app detects duplicates and lets you choose which data to keep.
2.3 Loading the Demo Tree
The app includes a built-in demonstration family — the fictional Hartwell family, a 4-generation Texas family with 20 people. Click "🎭 Load Demo Tree" on the home screen to load it instantly — no file upload needed.
| Person | Details |
|---|
| George William Hartwell † | Decedent. Born June 22, 1948 — San Antonio, TX. Died September 14, 2023 — Austin, TX. Best starting point for the affidavit demo. |
| Margaret Rose Hartwell | Spouse (living). Born March 3, 1951. Married June 12, 1971. Address: 4521 Pecan Grove Drive, Austin, TX 78745. |
| Thomas George Hartwell | Son (living). Born April 18, 1974. Married Patricia Ann Kowalski. Two children: Carol Lynn (b.2001) and Jonathan William (b.2004). |
| Sandra Lee Hartwell | Daughter (living). Born November 9, 1976. Two children: Elena Marie (b.2003) and Carlos Antonio (b.2006). |
| Robert James Hartwell † | Son (deceased Feb 2, 2018). Demonstrates the deceased-child sub-form. Two grandchildren: Lily Grace and Noah Robert. |
| Harold Eugene Hartwell † | George's father. Born 1921, died 1989. |
| Dorothy Mae Hartwell † | George's mother. Born 1924, died 2007. |
| Barbara Jean Hartwell † | George's older sister. Born 1944, died 2015. Married Frank Allen Simmons (d.2019). No children. Demonstrates deceased sibling with deceased spouse. |
| Charles Raymond Hartwell | George's younger brother (living, San Antonio). Good corroborator candidate. |
Affidavit demo walkthrough
- Click 🎭 Load Demo Tree. All 20 people load instantly and the person list appears.
- Find George William Hartwell (Deceased badge) and click his name.
- Scroll to the bottom of his panel and click ✍️ Generate Affidavit of Heirship.
- In Section A, enter: Thomas George Hartwell · son · 812 Ridgewood Lane, Dallas TX 75201 · 49 years. Add Charles Raymond Hartwell (brother, 901 Cactus Flower Road, San Antonio TX) as a corroborator.
- Click through Sections B–E. Note the auto-filled fields: Section C shows Margaret Rose with termination date Sep 14, 2023; Section D shows Robert James as deceased with Deborah Sue Whitfield and two grandchildren; Section E shows Barbara Jean with Frank Allen Simmons as surviving spouse.
- Go to Section F, choose DOCX, and click Generate. The file downloads with Affidavit of Heirship — George William Hartwell in the footer.
💡 The demo tree resets each time you click "Load Demo Tree." Click 💾 Save Workspace first if you have changes to keep.
3. Building Your Family Tree
3.1 Adding People
Click the green ➕ Add Person button in the toolbar. A blank record is created instantly and the edit panel opens, scrolled to the top of the page.
💡 When you click "+ Add Person," the page scrolls to the top automatically so the edit panel is immediately visible.
3.2 Editing a Person's Details
Click any name in the person list to open their edit panel. Every field saves to the tree on every keystroke — no Save button needed.
| Field | Notes |
|---|
| Full Display Name | Name as shown in the tree and in the affidavit header. |
| Sex | Male, Female, or Unknown. Determines HUSB/WIFE assignment in GEDCOM. |
| Date of Birth / Death | Use the date picker (YYYY-MM-DD format). Displays as Month D, YYYY in the affidavit. Entering a death date marks the person Deceased. |
| Place of Birth / Death | Recommended format: City, County, State (e.g., Austin, Travis County, TX). |
| Residence / Address | Last known address. Auto-fills the spouse's current address in the affidavit. |
3.3 Adding Relationships
Each person's panel has ➕ Add buttons next to Spouses, Children, and Parents. Clicking any of them opens the Relationship Picker dialog.
- Choose the relationship type: Spouse, Child of this person, or Parent of this person.
- For Spouse, optionally enter marriage date and place in the fields that appear.
- Search for the person by name, or click ＋ New Person to create one instantly.
- Click "✓ Add Relationship" — the family record is created and both panels update immediately.
💡 People created inside the Relationship Picker are added to the tree right away. Fill in their full details by clicking their name in the person list afterward.
3.4 Editing Spouses and Children Inline
Once relationships are added, each person's panel shows full editable forms for spouses and children — not just name chips.
- Spouses — shows marriage date/place, plus death info (if deceased) or current address (if living). Click ✕ Remove to unlink without deleting either person.
- Children — shows name, DOB, birth place, a living/deceased status toggle, and either date of death or current address.
- Parents & Siblings — displayed as clickable name chips. Click any chip to navigate to that person's edit panel.
4. Saving, Loading & Exporting
4.1 Save Workspace
Click 💾 Save Workspace at any time to download a .json file containing your complete session: all people, families, edits, affidavit form state, and change history.
⚠ Save regularly. Closing or refreshing the browser tab without saving will lose all unsaved changes.
4.2 Load Workspace
Click 📂 Load Workspace and select a previously saved .json file. The entire session is restored exactly as you left it — all people, relationships, edits, and any in-progress affidavit.
4.3 Export Tree as GEDCOM
Once a tree is loaded, click 🌳 Export Tree (.ged) in the tree toolbar to export all people and families as a standard GEDCOM 5.5.1 file. Compatible with Ancestry, FamilySearch, Geni, and most genealogy software.
💡 This is different from the "Affidavit Family (.ged)" export on the Review step, which exports only the ~6 people directly named in the affidavit.
4.4 Change History & Rollback
Click 🕐 History in the header (the badge shows the count of changes) to open the history panel. Every field edit and every relationship change is recorded with a timestamp and a before/after summary.
Click ↩ Roll back on any entry to reverse just that change without affecting anything else. The rolled-back entry remains in the log with a strikethrough. Rollback applies only to field edits and relationship additions — not to deletions.
5. Generating an Affidavit of Heirship
To start an affidavit, open any deceased person's edit panel and click the green ✍️ Generate Affidavit of Heirship button at the bottom. The affidavit overlay opens, pre-filled with data from the family tree.
💡 If a person has no recorded death date, a "Use Anyway" option appears. For best results, add the death date in the edit panel first.
Section A — Affiant Information
The affiant is the person swearing to the facts — typically the surviving spouse or an adult child. The affiant should not be someone who will directly inherit; those people serve as corroborators.
Corroborators are disinterested witnesses who knew the decedent but will not inherit. Good candidates include neighbors, long-time friends, or family members not in the direct line of inheritance. Each corroborator gets their own notary acknowledgment page in the generated document.
Section B — Decedent Information
All available fields are pre-filled from the family tree. Key fields include full legal name, name on property/court records (if different), dates and places of birth and death, residence at time of death, whether a will exists, parents' names, property description, and known debts.
Section C — Marriages
Click + Add Marriage for each marriage. Dates, places, and termination reasons are pre-filled automatically from the tree data.
💡 When a marriage was "Current at time of death," the termination date is automatically set to the decedent's own date of death.
Section D — Children
Click + Add Child for each child. For deceased children, a sub-form appears to enter that child's own surviving spouse and children (the decedent's grandchildren).
💡 Mark a child as Deceased to reveal the sub-form for their surviving spouse and their own children.
Section E — Siblings & Extended Family
Enter the decedent's siblings. Deceased siblings have a sub-form for their own children (nieces and nephews), which is relevant under many states' intestacy statutes.
💡 Always document all known siblings, even those who pre-deceased the decedent. Siblings are relevant to heirship determination under many state intestacy laws.
Section F — Review & Generate
The Review tab shows a complete summary of every section. Review carefully, then choose a format and click Generate.
- RTF — opens in Word, Google Docs, and LibreOffice. Best choice if unsure.
- DOCX — full paragraph styles, two-column notary tables, widow/orphan control, 9pt italic footer with decedent name on every page.
- Affidavit Family (.ged) — only the ~6 people named in the affidavit.
- Full Family Tree (.ged) — all people with all your edits.
- Sync to Tree — writes spouses, children, and siblings you entered in the affidavit form back into the main tree.
6. Merging Multiple GEDCOM Files
If you upload a second GEDCOM file into a tree that already has people, the app compares incoming records against existing ones using name and date matching. Potential duplicates trigger a merge dialog.
| Option | What it does |
|---|
| Keep existing | Ignore the incoming data for this person entirely. |
| Use new file version | Replace the existing record with the incoming data. Keeps the original ID so all family links are preserved. |
| Best of both | Field by field, prefer non-blank values. Useful when one file has birth dates and the other has places. |
| Skip (keep both) | Add the incoming person as a separate record. Use only if they are genuinely different people. |
💡 Exact-ID matches (same @I1234@ from the same Ancestry tree) are always silently merged. Only name+date fuzzy matches trigger the dialog.
7. Tips & Best Practices
| Tip | Details |
|---|
| Save early and often | Click Save Workspace any time you finish editing a person or adding a relationship. The file is small (usually under 1 MB) and saves instantly. |
| Use the date picker | Dates stored as YYYY-MM-DD format correctly in GEDCOM and display as "Month D, YYYY" in the affidavit automatically. |
| Build the tree before the affidavit | Spend time getting the tree right first. The affidavit will pre-fill almost entirely from a well-built tree. |
| The edited badge | People with changes since the last GEDCOM import show a green "edited" badge — a reminder to export or save your workspace. |
| Add corroborators last | Fill in all family information first. Add corroborators in Section A only when you are ready to finalize the document. |
| Sync affidavit changes back to tree | If you add people directly in the affidavit form, click "Sync to Tree" in the overlay header. Otherwise those people will not appear in workspace saves. |
| Each corroborator gets their own page | The generated document includes a separate notary acknowledgment page per corroborator, each with a signature line. |
| Remote Online Notarization (RON) | Notary blocks use blank state fields (not pre-printed) to support RON, which is available in most U.S. states. |
| The signature block always starts fresh | A page break is inserted before EXECUTED THIS so the signing block is never split across pages. |
| The affidavit is not a court order | An Affidavit of Heirship creates a presumption of title — it is not a probate judgment. Consult a licensed attorney before using it in a real property transaction. |
⚠ Legal Disclaimer
This application generates documents for informational and organizational purposes only. The output is not legal advice. Requirements for affidavits of heirship vary by jurisdiction, and this document may not be accepted by all courts, title companies, or financial institutions. Always consult a licensed attorney in your state before using this affidavit in a real property transaction or probate proceeding.