We discuss the decays X * → Xe + e − ("Dalitz decays") of excited heavy mesons into their ground states and an electron-positron pair. We argue that the measurement of the invariant mass spectrum of the lepton pair gives clear indication on the quantum numbers of the excited meson and thus provides an experimental test of the quark model predictions.PACS numbers: 14.40. Lb, 14.40.Nd, 12.39.Jh, 13.40Hq, 13.20Fc, 13.20.He, 13.25.Ft, 13.25.Hw We investigate radiative decays of excited heavy mesons with charm and beauty, i.e. D * 0 , D * + s , B * 0 and B * 0 s , into their ground state plus an electronpositron pair. There are several reasons that led us to investigate these decays:1. The quantum numbers J and P of the excited mesons given in the Review of Particle Physics [1] are either merely predictions of the quark model, which gives for the particles discussed here J P = 1 − , or at best the quantum numbers need confirmation 1 .2. The quantum numbers of some even higher heavy meson states, depend on the correct assignments for the X * 's which are the focus of the present work. . Although the current errors on the individual branching ratios are clearly higher than the branching ratios for the decay into a Dalitz pair which, as we will see below, are of the 1 We would like to mention here, that for the B-meson even the quantum numbers of the ground state are not known experimentally; nevertheless we assume J P (B) = 0 − .