Claim or refer an unclaimed estate
Check if you're an entitled relative
You need to know if you’re entitled before making a claim on an estate. The general rules are:
- if there’s no will, the person’s spouse or civil partner and then any children have first claim to the estate
- if there’s no spouse or child, anyone descended from a grandparent of the person is entitled to a share in the estate
- if you’re related by marriage you have no entitlement
Adopted people
If you’re adopted:
- you have the same rights as if you’d been born into your adoptive family
- you have no rights to an estate of your original birth family
Only the adoptive family have rights to the estate if the deceased person was adopted.