How does an estate get wound up with no will / relatives?
Discussion
I was having a conversation with my other half about what happens when you die without a will and no relatives
Question came up of exactly how does a persons assets get sold and money in their accounts get passed to the exchequer?
Who does it and how do they get informed? We didnt know how anyone would know that someone has died and had no relatives or will.
Does anyone know the process?
Question came up of exactly how does a persons assets get sold and money in their accounts get passed to the exchequer?
Who does it and how do they get informed? We didnt know how anyone would know that someone has died and had no relatives or will.
Does anyone know the process?
It's actually quite unusual for someone to die without any relatives. However, if there are no known relatives then the estate becomes what's known as bona vacantia and passes to the Crown (or the Duchy of Cornwall / Lancaster if the death takes place in those areas).
The Treasury Solicitor then takes over administration of the estate, and will sell the assets on behalf of the Crown. However, they publish a list of the estates in question, and there are several firms of `heir hunters' who study the lists, carry out research to find a relative then offer to let the relative know of their inheritance in return for around 30% of the inheritance.
The Treasury Solicitor then takes over administration of the estate, and will sell the assets on behalf of the Crown. However, they publish a list of the estates in question, and there are several firms of `heir hunters' who study the lists, carry out research to find a relative then offer to let the relative know of their inheritance in return for around 30% of the inheritance.
Pro Bono said:
It's actually quite unusual for someone to die without any relatives. However, if there are no known relatives then the estate becomes what's known as bona vacantia and passes to the Crown (or the Duchy of Cornwall / Lancaster if the death takes place in those areas).
The Treasury Solicitor then takes over administration of the estate, and will sell the assets on behalf of the Crown. However, they publish a list of the estates in question, and there are several firms of `heir hunters' who study the lists, carry out research to find a relative then offer to let the relative know of their inheritance in return for around 30% of the inheritance.
googled bona vacantia which lead me to some more info and I can see there is a government form that someone* can use to refer a persons estate to the Treasury Solicitor. The Treasury Solicitor then takes over administration of the estate, and will sell the assets on behalf of the Crown. However, they publish a list of the estates in question, and there are several firms of `heir hunters' who study the lists, carry out research to find a relative then offer to let the relative know of their inheritance in return for around 30% of the inheritance.
I guess my only question left is who does that? Someone dies and they leave a house empty would it just be left until the council noticed or would things start to unravel if there wasn't someone left to bury them?
No skin the game on this one, but wondering how that works in practice.
My mum got contacted a few years back by a legal firm asking her to confirm some details as they were trying to contact her , it couldn't have looked more dodgy if they tried but she phoned them and it turned out a cousin who had spent his life in care had died leaving an estate
So her and 3 other cousins inherited a few hundred each off a guy they thought had died years before
So her and 3 other cousins inherited a few hundred each off a guy they thought had died years before
There’s a more immediate step that has to be cleared first, and that is burial or cremation of the deceased.
If no-one comes forward to make the arrangements, it falls on the district or unitary council for the area where the person died (assuming they did not die in hospital) to make arrangements under their public health powers. The authority can then recover its costs by administering (some of) the estate.
Happens more often than you’d expect, unfortunately.
If no-one comes forward to make the arrangements, it falls on the district or unitary council for the area where the person died (assuming they did not die in hospital) to make arrangements under their public health powers. The authority can then recover its costs by administering (some of) the estate.
Happens more often than you’d expect, unfortunately.
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