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The Treasury has released its December 2023 list of every estate that you could be entitled to if you have one of 114 surnames. An unclaimed estate is when someone has died without having an effective will in place, and no family comes forward to claim their estate.

When this happens, the deceased’s property becomes ‘ownerless property’ and is taken into possession by the Crown. However, within a 12-year period from when the Crown possesses the estate, family members can come forward if they believe they are entitled to a share of the deceased’s relative’s property.

For unclaimed estates before 1997, the Treasury will allow claims up to 30 years from the date of the person’s death, subject to no interest being paid on the money that is held - if the claim is received after the 12-year period has ended.

An unclaimed estate could be buildings, money or personal possessions (Stock image for illustrative purposes by Simon Hulme/National World)

An unclaimed estate, according to the Treasury, might be any form of property, including buildings, money, or personal possessions. There are currently 114 unclaimed estates that belonged to people who died in Leeds, as of December 1.

Who is entitled to an unclaimed estate?

If someone dies without leaving a valid or effective will the following relatives are entitled to the estate in the order shown below:

Husband, wife or civil partner
Children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and so on
Mother or father
Brothers or sisters who share both the same mother and father, or their children (nieces and nephews)
Half brothers or sisters or their children (nieces and nephews of the half blood or their children). ‘Half ’ means they share only one parent with the deceased
Grandparents
Uncles and aunts or their children (first cousins or their descendants)
Half uncles and aunts or their children (first cousins of the half blood or their children). ‘Half’ means they only share one grandparent with the deceased, not both

If you are, for example, a first cousin of the deceased, you would only be entitled to share in the estate if there are no relatives above you in the order of entitlement, for example, a niece or nephew. Visit the Government website to make your claim or find out more information about the deceased.

Surnames of the unclaimed estates in Leeds

Barker

Burton

Davis

Devlin

Kruger

Taylor

Cooke

Andrews

Arnold

Avalon

Beaumont

Belaj

Birkett

Browne

Bryll

Burnham

Carter

Catton

Clifford

Cooke

Crawley

Czyz

Davies

Dingle

Dolan

Duggan

Dzenis

Ellis

Fay

Fiscor

Fletcher

Garnett

Gilmore

Gilroy

Goodwin

Habshaw

Hammond

Hart

Hartley

Henderson

Higgins

Holdsworth

Howden

Hudson

Hurcombe

Isaacs

James

Jones

Karklinis

Kmet

Kutkevicius

Landy

Lewis

Lonsborough

Love

Mann

McBride

McDermott

McKean

McLaren

Miskiw

Moore

Morris

Mullan

Mullen

Murphy

Murray

O'Brien

O'Hosi

O'Shea

O'Sullivan

Podola

Pollitt

Pylypenko

Raudsepp

Rhodes

Robinson

Rooney

Routledge

Samuel

Scott

Sheriden

Singh

Smith

Stewart

Stinson

Szostak

Taylor

Thompson

Todd

Voulgaris

Vukotic

Walton

Watson

Whelan

Wilcox

Williams

Winfield

Winter

Wood

Yusuff

Zlobicki

Garvey

Jackson-Ward

Majczak

Leeds unclaimed estates: New December list of 114 estates you could inherit if you have these surnames

Who is entitled to an unclaimed estate?

Surnames of the unclaimed estates in Leeds