Farra is a death administration assistant for UK families. Get step-by-step guidance for registering a death, applying for probate, notifying banks, and managing bereavement admin. From essential documents to practical checklists, Farra simplifies estate paperwork and funeral-related tasks so you can focus on what matters.
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When someone dies without a will and has no eligible relatives — no spouse, no children, no parents, no siblings, no grandparents, no aunts or uncles — their estate does not simply disappear. Under English law, it passes to the Crown as bona vacantia. This guide explains what this means, who might be able to claim, and what the process involves.
Bona vacantia is a Latin phrase meaning “ownerless goods.” Under English law, property that has no owner — including an estate where there are no eligible heirs — passes to the Crown.
In England and Wales these estates are handled by the Bona Vacantia Division (BVD) of the Government Legal Department — with the exception of the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, which administer the estates falling within their own areas. BVD's guidance says so in terms, and it also makes clear that BVD does not do genealogical research for you.
Section 46(1)(vi) of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 is the provision that sends the estate to “the Crown or to the Duchy of Lancaster or to the Duke of Cornwall for the time being, as the case may be, as bona vacantia”.
For an estate to pass as bona vacantia, all eight levels of the intestacy priority order must be absent:
In practice, this is relatively uncommon — but it does happen, particularly with people who have outlived most of their family, never married, and had no children. It can also happen where the family structure is complex and existing relatives cannot be traced.
For the full intestacy overview, see our main intestacy guide.
Where an estate is bona vacantia, the Treasury Solicitor or Duchy takes responsibility for administering the estate. They will apply for letters of administration in their capacity as administrator for the Crown.
A creditor of the estate (someone owed money by the deceased) can also apply for letters of administration. Having a potential Inheritance Act claim does not by itself give a cohabiting partner the right to take the grant.
It is worth separating two different things that both get called “claiming”.
BVD's time limits for a relative's claim are generous. Claims are generally accepted within 12 years of the date the administration of the estate was completed, and interest is paid on the money held. A fully documented claim may be admitted up to 30 years from the date of death, but without interest. After 30 years no claim is accepted.
BVD publishes an unclaimed estates list on GOV.UK. BVD does not publish a policy of making discretionary payments to friends or carers with no entitlement, so this guide does not describe one.
The family home forms part of the estate and passes to the Crown. If the deceased was a sole owner, the Treasury Solicitor will arrange for the property to be sold and the proceeds added to the estate.
If the property was jointly owned with another person as joint tenants, it passes by survivorship to the surviving joint owner — outside the bona vacantia entirely.
Joint bank accounts, jointly owned investments, and jointly owned property (as joint tenants) all pass by survivorship to the surviving joint account holder or owner — outside the bona vacantia estate. The Treasury Solicitor only deals with assets held solely by the deceased.
Inheritance tax is charged on the value of the estate on death, and the Act does not list bona vacantia among the exemptions, so the standard nil-rate band of £325,000 applies and the excess is charged at 40%. Debts and the funeral are paid first, and what reaches the Crown is the residue.
For more detail, see our inheritance tax guide for 2026–27.
The intestacy rules cannot benefit a friend, a charity or a cohabiting partner in any circumstances — they are not in the statutory list. A will is the only document that can direct an estate to any of them, and without one the estate goes to blood relatives, or to the Crown if there are none.
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