Bona Vacantia List: Unclaimed Estates and Polish-Born Heirs

Bona vacantia is ownerless property that passes to the Crown. When someone dies in England or Wales without a valid will and without any known relatives entitled to inherit, the estate is referred to the Bona Vacantia Division (BVD) of the Government Legal Department. BVD publishes the unclaimed estates list on GOV.UK, a free spreadsheet of estates it holds that have not yet been claimed, and a relative who can prove their place in the family tree can still claim within the time limits.

This guide explains what the bona vacantia list shows today, who is entitled under the intestacy rules, what evidence BVD asks for and how to approach an estate where the deceased was born in Poland and the entitled relatives may live there.

What bona vacantia means for an estate

The phrase means “vacant goods”. In estates, it applies when a person dies intestate (without a will that works) and no relative within the categories set by the Administration of Estates Act 1925 survives them. Section 46 of that Act says the residuary estate then belongs to the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster or the Duke of Cornwall, depending on where the person lived.

An estate reaches BVD in a simple way: a local authority, hospital, care home, solicitor or member of the public refers it because no will and no relatives are known. GOV.UK says estates should only be referred where there is no will, there are no blood relatives and the estate is solvent, and that the Government Legal Department only handles estates worth £500 or more. “No known kin” does not mean there are no kin.

Who deals with unclaimed estates in the UK

Bona vacantia is handled by different Crown bodies depending on where the person lived:

England and Wales: the Bona Vacantia Division of the Government Legal Department, acting for the Treasury Solicitor.
Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall: GOV.UK names the solicitors Farrer and Co as the contact for these areas.
Scotland: the King’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer (KLTR). Under Scots law the Crown is the “ultimate heir” (ultimus haeres) of a person who dies without a will and without successors.
Northern Ireland: the Crown Solicitor’s Office for Northern Ireland.

The rest of this guide covers England and Wales. Scottish succession law differs, so check the KLTR website for Scotland.

The unclaimed estates list: what it shows

BVD publishes the list as a CSV file on the GOV.UK page “Unclaimed estates list”. GOV.UK describes it as updated regularly, and in practice the page shows frequent updates: at the time of writing (September 2026) it had been revised several times in the same week.

Publication was suspended in July 2025 after allegations of fraud within the probate system. A review found no evidence that the list itself had been the source of fraud, and it was reinstated on 12 January 2026 with less information. Each entry now shows only:

the BVD case reference number
the deceased’s forename and surname
the date of death
the place of death (town and area)

Earlier versions of the list carried more detail. If you have seen older copies or third-party lists that mention a place of birth or a maiden name, treat them with care: BVD warns that copies held elsewhere cannot be guaranteed to be accurate or up to date. The current list gives no place of birth, so it cannot tell you directly who was born in Poland.

Estates leave the list when an entitled relative claims, a will is found, the time limit runs out or the estate turns out to be insolvent. If your relative is not on the list, BVD is probably not dealing with the estate. GOV.UK suggests obtaining the death certificate and contacting the person who registered the death, asking the local authority where the person died, searching for a grant of probate or administration, and checking estate notices in The Gazette. Our guide to probate records and wills explains the probate search.

Who can claim: the intestacy rules in England and Wales

BVD sets out the strict order of priority on GOV.UK. A relative in a later group only inherits if nobody in an earlier group survived the deceased:

husband, wife or civil partner
children, or their descendants
mother or father
brothers and sisters of the whole blood, or their descendants (nieces and nephews)
half brothers and half sisters, or their descendants
grandparents
uncles and aunts of the whole blood, or their descendants (first cousins)
half uncles and half aunts, or their descendants

“Half blood” means sharing only one parent or grandparent. “Or their descendants” means that if, say, a sister died before the deceased, her children take her share, and if one of them has also died, that child’s own children step into their place.

Three limits catch people out. First, the line stops at the descendants of the grandparents: BVD states that a second cousin, related through a great-grandparent, is not entitled. Second, relatives by marriage have no entitlement. Third, a person adopted by court order inherits in the adoptive family and not the birth family. If an entitled relative survived the deceased but has since died, the claim is made by that relative’s personal representative.

Time limits for claims

According to BVD’s guidance, claims are generally accepted within 12 years from the date the administration of the estate was completed, and interest is paid on the money held. After that, BVD may still admit a fully documented claim up to 30 years from the date of death, but without interest. Claims received after 30 years from the date of death are not accepted, and an incomplete claim must be completed within that 30-year period.

For older entries the 30-year deadline can be close, and Polish records take time to obtain, so start early.

What evidence a claim needs

The first step is to email BVD a family tree showing how you are related to the deceased, with the dates of birth, marriage and death of everyone on it. If the tree suggests you may be entitled, BVD asks for documents, including:

full birth certificates showing the parents’ names, and marriage certificates, for each person between you and the deceased, including yourself and the deceased
a written explanation, with evidence, of any discrepancies or missing documents
two identity documents: one proving your name and a separate one linking your name to your address
a signed letter of authority or contract if someone is claiming on your behalf

A few details matter. BVD does not accept downloaded GRO PDFs; it needs paper certified copies. Census returns or the 1939 Register should be copies of the original return, not online transcripts. Certificates in any language other than English must come with a certified English translation. BVD does not carry out genealogical research and will not refund the cost of documents if a claim fails.

Heir hunters and probate genealogists

Many people first hear about an estate from probate genealogists, often called heir hunters: private firms that find entitled relatives and offer to make the claim for a fee, usually agreed in a written contract. BVD states that genealogists do not work for or on behalf of BVD, and that whether you use one is your decision.

Before signing, ask how the fee is calculated and what happens if the claim fails. You can also claim yourself, or take advice from a solicitor first.

Estates of Polish-born people on the list

Why Polish names appear

Scan the current list and you will find surnames with typical Polish endings such as -ski, -ska, -wicz and -czyk, many with deaths in the 1990s and 2000s. The list does not record nationality, so some of these people may have been born in Britain or come from neighbouring countries. Many, though, belong to the generation that settled after the Second World War: soldiers, airmen and sailors of the Polish forces in the West who stayed under the Polish Resettlement Act 1947, their families, and displaced persons recruited as European Volunteer Workers.

For many of them, contact with brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews in Poland was difficult for decades after the war. Some never married in Britain. When they died, neighbours and the local council often knew nothing of relatives abroad, and the estate was referred as having no known kin. The relatives in Poland are frequently the people entitled under the rules above.

How to spot a possible Polish-born deceased

Surname endings: -ski/-ska, -cki/-cka, -wicz, -czyk, -czak and clusters such as sz, cz and rz. Remember that the list may use a spelling without Polish letters (Lukasz for Łukasz).
Anglicised names: many settlers changed or shortened their surnames and used English forenames, so the list may show a name that looks entirely British. See our guide to anglicised Polish surnames.
The death certificate: for deaths registered from 1969, the certificate records the date and place of birth. It is the quickest way to confirm a birth in Poland.
Naturalisation and resettlement records: naturalisation papers and Polish forces service files often give the birthplace, parents’ names and next of kin.

Identifying and proving relatives in Poland

Once a Polish birthplace is known, the family is rebuilt from Polish civil registers and parish books. Under the Polish civil status records act, a civil registry office (urząd stanu cywilnego) keeps birth registers for 100 years and marriage and death registers for 80 years; older registers pass to the state archives. The deceased’s own birth entry names the parents, and the siblings’ births, marriages and deaths then connect each living relative to that couple. Our guide to the 100-year rule explains where each register sits.

Access is regulated. The same act allows copies of civil status records to be issued to the person concerned, a spouse, ascendants, descendants and siblings, and to anyone who shows a legal interest. A cousin or a researcher acting for an estate may need to document that interest, for example with correspondence from BVD or the administrator. Living relatives should be traced only through lawful sources.

Each Polish record then needs a certified English translation before BVD will consider it. The sibling guide on proving kinship with Polish records covers which extracts to request, and our heir research service can obtain the entries and a sourced family tree for solicitors, executors and families.

An illustrative example. Suppose the list shows a man with an English forename and a surname ending in -ski who died in Bradford in 2004, with no known kin. His death certificate gives a birthplace near Rzeszów in 1921. His parish birth entry names his parents; a search of the same parish finds two younger sisters. Both died before him, so their children, his nieces and nephews in Poland, stand in their place. Their claim needs each sister’s birth and death entries, the nieces’ and nephews’ birth entries, translations and identity documents. The case is invented, but the pattern is typical.

When you need a solicitor or a Polish lawyer

This guide is general information, not legal advice. BVD itself advises seeking independent legal advice if you are unsure about entitlement or evidence. Take advice from a UK solicitor where there is a disputed will, a possible spouse or child abroad, an adoption, a question about domicile or a large estate. If the deceased also owned property in Poland, or a Polish court or notary must confirm who inherits there, a Polish lawyer or notary is needed; see our guide to inheriting property in Poland.