List of 24 unclaimed estates in Sunderland you could inherit if you have these surnames - how to claim

The treasury has updated a list of all of the unclaimed estates in Sunderland for June 2023. This means if you share a surname with one of the people on the list, you could be entitled to some money.

An unclaimed estate is when someone dies without leaving a will, or when an old will is in place and the beneficiaries have died. When this happens, and no one comes forward to stake a claim, the property is deemed ‘ownerless’.

It then becomes a possession of the Crown. From the point the estate passes to the Crown, a 12-year window opens where family members can come forward if they believe they could be entitled to the inheritance.

When claiming an estate, there is an order of priority, based on how close a relative you are to the person whose estate is in question. Immediate relatives, such as spouses or civil partners have top priority.

This who can claim an estate, in order of priority:

1. husband, wife or civil partner
2. children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and so on
3. mother or father
4. brothers or sisters who share both the same mother and father, or their children (nieces and nephews)
5. 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
6. grandparents
7. uncles and aunts or their children (first cousins or their descendants)
8. 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

Full list of 24 unclaimed estates in Sunderland

1. Andrews
2. Bittlestone
3. Bray
4. Clark
5. Clark
6. Conway
7. Dixon
8. Elliot
9. Haylett
10. Humphrey
11. Isaacs
12. Johnson
13. Jones
14. Marsh
15. McCann
16. Melton
17. Melville
18. Moran
19. Potts
20. Sargent
21. Saunders
22. Swartz
23. Tyler
24. Young

How to claim an unclaimed estate

Anyone who believes they might be entitled to a share of an unclaimed estate should contact The Treasury via the government website.