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`32238
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`BRIANNA K. MANNION, Esq. (SBN 286760)
`
`SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR’S OFFICE
`
`1650 Mission Street, 4" Floor
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`San Francisco, CA 94103 ELECTRONICALLY
`Telephone (415)355-3555
`
`FAX (41 5)355'6737 SUPEOI:’[Cqu:t EC:;Ilz)mia,
`E-mail brianna.mannion@sfgov.org County of San Francisco
`
`Attorney for Petitioner, CIe1r£/¢9f4t{12eogosurt
`
`San Francisco Public Administrator BY: AISHA LITTLEJOHN
`Deputy Clerk
`
`SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
`FOR THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
`
`No. PES-25-30904
`
`DECLARATION OF
`
`DUE DILIGENCE OF SENIOR
`ESTATE INVESTIGATOR
`LUCAS SWANSON
`
`Estate of
`
`JOAN A. NITIS,
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`Decedent.
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`e S e e e N N s s st
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`I, Lucas Swanson, Senior Estate Investigator and Senior Deputy Public
`Administrator, San Francisco Public Administrators’ office, City and County of
`San Francisco, State of California, hereby declare:
`
`1. Ms. Joan A. Nitis (“the decedent’) died at Seton Medical Center in
`Daly City, Califonria, on June 18,2025. Her close friend, Mr. James Campbell, referred
`the matter to this Office on July 29, 2025.
`
`Next of Kin
`
`2. Mr. Campbell provided the names and contact information of several of
`Ms. Nitis’s first cousins once-removed. He stated that he had already notified several
`family members and that these relatives were not in a position to serve as administrator
`of the decedent's estate. | contacted the known relatives directly, and they confirmed
`
`that they were unable to act in that capacity and asked our office to continue with our
`
`DECLARATION OF DUE DILIGENCE OF SENIOR ESTATE INVESTIGATOR LUCAS SWANSON
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`Page 1
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`investigation. | informed them that our office would first conduct a search for a Last Will
`and Testament or any other estate-planning documents belonging to the decedent.
`
`3. A team of Public Administrator Deputies, myself included, conducted a
`thorough search of Ms. Nitis’s residence on 41st Avenue in San Francisco in an effort
`to locate a Will. On three separate occasions we conducted unsuccessful searches for
`any testamentary documents. During this process, we determined that the decedent
`held two safe deposit boxes at the Bank of America branch on Balboa Street near her
`residence. Regrettably, we were unable to locate keys to either box. We therefore
`initiated the request to have the boxes drilled.
`
`4. At this point, the decedent’s living first cousin, Nancy Mirza, indicated that
`she intended to administer her cousin’s estate but wished to proceed only after it was
`confirmed that no Will existed naming an executor. Due to unforeseen delays by Bank
`of America in scheduling the safe deposit box drills, it took a number of weeks to obtain
`access to the decedent’s boxes. Both safe deposit boxes were eventually drilled and
`found to be empty. At that stage, the Public Administrator anticipated Ms. Mirza would
`move forward with the necessary steps to get appointed to administer the estate,
`however, she ultimately decided not to do so.
`
`5. Following this development, | conducted a comprehensive search for all
`living relatives. | interviewed representatives from both the maternal line (my main point
`of contact being first cousin once removed, Susan Lichtenberg) and the paternal line
`(my main point of contact being first cousin once-removed, Denise Alexander) to
`identify and confirm the decedent’s family tree. Ms. Lichtenberg and Ms. Alexander
`provided this Office with a detailed family tree covering both maternal and paternal
`branches. In order to corroborate this information, | conducted an extensive review of
`Census Records, the US Social Security Death Index, various obituaries, marriage and
`divorce records, Department of State Immigration and Visa documents, the U.S. Public
`Records Index, Lexis Nexis Comprehensive relative searches, Thomson Reuters
`
`CLEAR relative searches, and a review of family memorabilia including old letters,
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`DECLARATION OF DUE DILIGENCE OF SENIOR ESTATE INVESTIGATOR LUCAS SWANSON
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`Page 2
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`calendars and legal documents located in the residence. In addition to family members,
`| also interviewed close friends, neighbors, employees, bankers, and other financial
`advisers.
`
`6. Based on this research, | reached the following conclusions:
`
`a) Ms. Joan Nitis was a widow and had no issue. Her husband, Paul Nitis,
`died on March 17, 2001 and did not have any children. Ms. Nitis’s parents, Katherine
`(Katie) Alexander (DOD 10/11/1988) and John Alexander (DOD 5/23/1978) also
`predeceased her. Her brothers, Thomas Alexander (DOD 6/5/2023) and John
`Alexander (DOD 6/13/2008), both predeceased her and neither of her brothers had
`issue.
`
`Paternal Family
`
`8. The decedent’s father John Alexander was born in 1898 in Turkey to
`Yohan and Essie Alexander. He and his siblings emigrated to the United States in the
`early part of the 20" century. John had two brothers, Cyrus Alexander (DOD 10/7/1972)
`and Daniel Alexander (DOD 12/23/1983), uncles of the decedent. Daniel died without
`issue.
`
`9. Cyrus Alexander had three (3) children, paternal first cousins, namely,
`Alex Alexander (DOD 10/27/1993), Atto Alexader (DOD 1/13/2013), and Yvette
`Margarette (DOD 8/6/2024). Although Yvette had no issue, Alex had Otto each had five
`children. Alex Alexander’s children, decedent’s first cousins once removed, are as
`follows: Denise Alexander, Steven Alexander, William Alexander, Celeste Alexander,
`and Suzanne Alexander. Atto’s five children, decedent’s first cousins once-removed,
`are: Aram Alexander, Danny Alexander, Marcus Alexander, Matthew Alexander and
`Koren Alexander. These ten individuals are living first cousins once-removed of Joan
`Nitis and represent the paternal heirs of the Estate of Joan Nitis.
`
`Maternal Family
`
`10. Ms. Nitis's mother Katherine Alexander (nee Mirza) was born in 1911 in
`
`Iran to Pera and Esther Mirza (Soliman). She and her family emigrated to the United
`
`DECLARATION OF DUE DILIGENCE OF SENIOR ESTATE INVESTIGATOR LUCAS SWANSON
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`Page 3
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`States thereafter. Katherine had five siblings, two “full-blood” siblings from her parents’
`marriage, namely, Joanne Maxfield (DOD 9/28/2001) and Yoel Mirza (DOD 1/24/1978),
`and three “half-blood” siblings from her father’s second marriage to Shakar Mirza,
`namely, Kenneth Mirza (DOD 3/11/2013), Shalim Jones (DOD 9/3/1990) and John
`Mirza (DOD 5/3/2017).
`
`11. Ms. Joanne Maxfield died without issue. Mr. Kenneth Mirza also died
`without issue.
`
`12. Mr. Yoel Mirza had three (3) daughters, decedent’s first cousins, namely,
`Yvette Price, Odette Steiger, and Annette Chambers, all predeceased with issue.
`Yvette Price (DOD 3/26/1999) had two (2) daughters, Annette Brewster and Jacqueline
`Halverson, both living first cousins once-removed. Odette Steiger (DOD 9/18/2011) had
`three (3) children: Susan Lichtenberg, David Steiger and Roger Steiger, all living first
`cousins once-removed. Annette Chambers (DOD 4/19/2016) had two (2) children,
`Christine Chambers and Stephen Chambers. These seven relatives are maternal first
`cousins once-removed.
`
`13. Decedent’s half-uncle, John Mirza, had three (3) children. His daughter,
`Nancy Mirza, a first cousin to Joan Nitis. His son James Mirza died in infancy (DOD
`12/5/1953). His other son, Randall Mirza (DOD 11/26/1986) predeceased, but had one
`son, Seth Mirza; a first cousin once removed to Joan Nitis.
`
`14. Shalim Jones had three (3) daughters, namely, Mary Bayram Kidd (DOD
`12/22/2009), Madeline Jones Smith (DOD 5/16/2017), and Margaret Ganja (DOD
`7/1/2015). Ms. Ganja died without issue. Mary Bayrum had two children, first cousins
`once-removed, both deceased. Her son, Warren Marc Bayram, died without issue on
`8/29/1979. Daughter Barbara Bayram died in infancy in 1959.
`
`15. With respect to Madeline Jones Smith, despite extensive research, | could
`not confirm (or disprove) that she had children and none of the relatives on the
`maternal side had information regarding the same. | spent close to ten hours
`
`researching Madeline and determined that she was married a number of times, but
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`DECLARATION OF DUE DILIGENCE OF SENIOR ESTATE INVESTIGATOR LUCAS SWANSON
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`Page 4
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`could not conclusively determine one way or another whether she had children and the
`identities of those children. (Hence why it does not say “no issue” next to her name in
`Attachment 8; though that may be the case, | cannot confirm that at this time.) If / when
`appointed, the Public Administrator will continue to research Madeline Jones Smith and
`her possible issue.
`
`Last Will & Testament
`
`16. Ms. Joan Nitis died intestate. Multiple thorough searches of the
`decedent’'s home produced no Will. As described above, this Office obtained access to
`the decedent’s two safe deposit boxes held at Bank of America, both of which were
`empty. No Wills or other estate plans were located in the decedent’'s home or safe
`
`deposit boxes.
`
`Real Property
`
`17. The decedent owned her home located at 546-548 41% Avenue in
`San Francisco, CA 94121 (“the Property”). As set forth above, my office conducted
`multiple thorough searches of the Property and looked specifically for evidence of an
`insurance policy covering the Property during those searches. | also reviewed all of the
`mail collected from the Property and found no mail related to any insurance policies
`covering the decedent’s home. | located evidence of car insurance and called the
`insurer to determine whether the decedent also had a homeowners’ policy, but they had
`no record of one in the system. Based on the foregoing, the Property appears to be
`currently uninsured.
`
`18. Additionally, there are unpaid property taxes in the approximate amount of
`$2,500.00. Though not a huge amount, petitioner will be able to avoid paying interest
`and penalties on the upcoming December installment (due December 10, 2025) if
`appointed special administrator. (Interest and penalties have already accrued with
`respect to the unpaid April 2025 instaliment.)
`
`i
`I
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`DECLARATION OF DUE DILIGENCE OF SENIOR ESTATE INVESTIGATOR LUCAS SWANSON
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`Page 5
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`| declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that
`the foregoing is true and correct and that this verification was executed this 4" day of
`
`December, 2025, at San Francisco, California.
`
`U
`
`LUCAS SWANSON
`Senior Estate Investigator
`
`DECLARATION OF DUE DILIGENCE OF SENIOR ESTATE INVESTIGATOR LUCAS SWANSON
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`Page 6
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