List of 41 unclaimed estates in the Wakefield district that you could inherit if you have these surnames - how to claim

If you have one of these surnames you could be in the money as the Treasury has released its list of unclaimed estates in Leeds.

An unclaimed estate is when someone passes away without having an effective will in place, and no family comes forward to claim their estate.

When this happens, the deceased’s property will become ‘ownerless property’ and will be in possession of 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.

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 decease 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.

Surnames of the unclaimed properties in Leeds

Asquith Adejumo Aderinto Afshari Baker Barker Badddiley Babb Barker Bray Brown Calvert Center Castle Cleator Cuthbert Featherstone Gilmour Green Hawkes Henderson Hofmanis Holland Howarth James Levine Macdonald Matthews Mills Palgan Remmer Rhodes Rimsha Robinson Smialek Smith Stevenson Taylor Turner Wright Zegula