Domain Owner dead

So I have a client that messaged me, to rebuild a website he owns(well it seems the other company(guy) owns the website) They are the register of the domain name.

So the original company(guy) that owned the website is dead, leaving the business owner without the credentials to a website he paid for and without his domain name that was listed as his in the original contract, when he agreed to have them develop the website. They have been in charge of the website for over 7 years.

So I told him it might seem to be the only way at this moment is to buy another domain name and and build a website. The issue is the amount of keywords and backlinks and everything SEO related was built over years giving him number one on google for a ton of keywords.

Also there are over 196 google reviews for that domain. So moving is going to cause a disruption of this.

I contacted godaddy and sent certifcations, license contracts etc. But they are silent at the moment. So I am trying to come up with a plan B.

My questions are this, what can I do about the reviews will google be able to transfer them? also would they be of any help with getting my search presence to where it was? Or would they be allowed to deactivate the site.

So I figure if anything what I will do is build the website and then use a PBN to get back to number one spot. But the owner is really worried about the reviews more than anything.


Any help/tips are welcomed.

So the domain was registered to the person who died and not the business? What documentation have you sent to GoDaddy? Did the business owner have an invoice from the person who died to show the domain was registered on their behalf?