Guidance

Estates of Deceased Service Personnel - Unpaid Estates

Updated 1 February 2024

The Deceased Estates Office of the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre is responsible for making payments from the Ministry of Defence to the estate of deceased service personnel, as well as those who die in retirement whilst holding preserved pension rights.  These pension rights arise from military service after 1975 where there is no eligible dependant to whom the pension can be paid.

In most cases, we are able to contact and make a payment to the executor or the next of kin within a few months of the individual’s death.  However, despite our best efforts, we are occasionally unable to trace the appropriate relative, particularly in those cases where the individual died many years after retiring from the armed forces.

The amounts due to the estate in such cases can vary, however, if an estate exceeds £5,000 in value and no blood relatives can be identified, the money will pass to the Crown as ‘Bona Vacantia’.

As at 25 January 2024 the MOD holds funds due to the estates of the following personnel.  (This list will be updated by the MOD from time to time.)

Name Died Status Contact sought
Susan Catherine Armand (Tunbridge Wells) 10 April 2002 Ex-Army (Private) Granddaughter
Garry Albert Atherton (Ashford, Kent) 19 April 2004 Ex-Army Son and Daughter
Matthew John Bailey (Colchester, Essex) 12 November 2020 Ex-Army Any blood relative
Sean Bell (Phuket Province) 11 November 2021 EX RAF (SAC) Father
William Berrie (Germany) 30 January 1995 Ex-Army (Lance Corporal) Son and Daughter
Graham Brown (Lanark) 24 March 2019 Ex-Army (Private) Parents
David Briggs (Blackpool) 2 August 1996 Ex-Navy Son and Daughter
Jeffrey Cheshire (Germany) 31 January 2008 Ex-Army (Private) Any blood relative
Mark Clifton (Eastbourne) 24 January 2012 Ex-Army (Corporal) Son
Robert Cook (Warwick) 1 December 2011 Ex-Army (Private) Son
Nicola Copeland (Newton Abbott) 4 August 2014 Ex-Army (Private) Mother
Nicholas Vincent Cornish (Lancaster) 15 June 2020 Ex-Army (Private) Son and Daughter
Sarah Cousins (Blackpool) 12 July 1998 N/K Son
Nathan James Davies (Abergavenny, Wales) 2 March 2022 Ex-Army Reserve Son
Peter Ralph Douch (Oman) 24 January 2002 Ex-RAF (Corporal) Spouse? (Thai National)
Kenneth Joseph Edwards 20 June 1977 Ex-Army (Private) Any blood relative
Graham Exley (Bridlington) 5 February 2016 Navy (Leading Rating) Son
James Geoffrey Eyre (Kings Lynn, Norfolk) 15 March 2021 Ex-RAF Son and Daughter
Tom William Forster (Dumfries) 10 October 2016 Ex-Army (Lance Corporal) Children
Peter George Edmund Forward (Ipswich) 23 June 2018 EX-RAF (SAC) Children
John Alexander Friend (County Durham) 31 May 2020 Ex - Army (Private) Children
Robert Galbraith (Newcastle Upon Tyne) 29 December 2018 Ex-Army (Lance Corporal) Children
Gary Allan Garner (Falkirk) 19 Mar 14 Ex-Army (Lance Corporal) Father
Geoffrey Michael Gateley (West Yorks) 13 October 2009 Ex-Army (Lance Corporal) Son
Vincent Gormley (Kent) 25 November 2009 Ex-Army (Corporal) Spouse and/or children
John Gregory (Wigan) 18 February 2011 Ex-Army (OR2) Sons
Raymond Hill (Dagenham) 8 July 2014 Ex-Army (Corporal) Possible spouse
Daniel Joyce (Lancashire) 2 April 2022 Ex-Army (Private) Son and Daughter
Simon King (Tunbridge Wells) 21 September 2007 Ex-RAF (Corporal) Widow?
Kevin Knight (Leicester) 3 September 2010 Ex-Army (Corporal) Father (believed to have emigrated to Australia)
Richard Daniel Manley (Plymouth, Devon) 14 January 2015 Ex-Army (Corporal) Children
William Marshall (Bremen, Germany) 12 May 2005 Ex-Army (Private) Former spouse (German National) or their 2 children
Richard Leigh McDonald (Frimley, Surrey) 2 October 2020 Ex Army (Lance Corporal) 2 x Daughters
Robert Edward McGhee 14 March 1994 Ex-Army (Private) Any blood relative
Ian David McLean (Oldham) 8 Jun 2019 Ex-Army (Private) Mother
Greg Mitchell (Scotland) 14 August 2013 Ex-Army (Private) Father
Patrick Joseph Moore 11 Feb 1977 Ex-Army (Private) Any blood relative
David John Morris (Dorchester) 8 December 2017 Ex- Army (Private) 2 x Daughters
John William Murphy (Liverpool) 17 February 2004 Ex-Army (Private) Former spouse or their 2 children
Harry William Parsons (London) 19 October 2002 Chelsea Pensioner Any blood relative
David John Plaine 19 December 1979 Ex-Army (Private) Any blood relative
Christopher John Porter 16 March 1977 Ex-Army (Corporal) Any blood relative
Mark Thomas Reading (Berkshire) 30 January 2019 Ex – Army (Lance Corporal) Father
Robert Rhodie (NI) 25 October 2002 Ex-Army (Lance Corporal) Spouse
Kevin Rudd (Bottisham) 24 November 2012 Ex-Army (Corporal) Executor
Stephen Rygielski (Paisley) 4 August 2016 Army (Private) Father
Mr Frank Seedamee (USA) 26 October 1993 Ex-Army (Sergeant) Daughter (believed to live in USA)
John Stewart Selby-Griffiths 4 June 1980 Ex-Army (Private) Any blood relative
Geoffrey Martin Taylor (Malvern) 27 September 2009 Ex-Army (Private) Daughter
Richard Steven Thorn (Basildon) 5 July 2005 Ex-Navy (Able Seaman) Two children
David George Treharne (Sutton, Surrey) 12 June 2013 Ex -Army Daughter
Stewart Walkinshaw (Macclesfield) 17 February 2010 Ex-Navy (Able Rating) Father
Stephen James Walsh (Milton Keynes) 16 July 2014 Ex-Army (Private) Son
Stephen John Watkins (Rhondda Cynon Taf) 24 March 2016 Ex-Army (Private) Daughter
Alan Weaver (Staffordshire) 5 April 2013 Ex-Army (Corporal) Daughter
Michael Kenneth Webb (Kendal) 23 February 2007 Ex-Army (Lance Corporal) Brother
Philip Ernest Charles Welsh (Barnstable) 29 June 2016 Ex-Army (Lance Corporal) Children
Peter James Whalley (Lancashire) 6 October 2019 Ex-Army (Corporal) Father
Mark Thomas White (Birmingham) 3 November 2010 Ex-Army (Private) Blood relative
Christopher Whyment Around November 2014 Ex-Army (Private) Daughter
Christopher James Wilson (Notts) 7 May 2016 Ex-Army (Lance Corporal) Son and Daughter
Damien Woods (Hemel Hempstead) 20 November 2012 Ex-Army (Private) Daughter (in Germany)
Gary Wright (North Shields) 28 September 2008 Ex-Army (Private) Son
       

If you are the relative listed above, the executor of the estate, or believe that you are now the closest living relative of the deceased (NoK is determined in the following sequence: spouse, children/grandchildren, parents, brothers and sisters etc) and can supply documentary evidence to this effect, please write to JCCC (Deceased Estates) at the address shown in the contact us section and subject to the completion of the legal formalities, we may be able to release the appropriate payment.

The JCCC also holds details of a number of other estates where the MOD have previously traced and notified an entitled relative of money due to an estate but, to date they have not returned the necessary paperwork.  If you are such an individual and now wish to pursue matters, you may do so by writing to the address shown in the contact us section and forwarding the documentation requested in the original notification, quoting the surname and date of death of the serviceman or woman concerned.  Claims from third parties will not be accepted, unless documentary evidence is supplied to show they are acting on behalf of the entitled recipient, or can supply evidence to show that they are now the entitled recipient of the deceased’s estate.