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 1 January 2025 the MOD holds funds due to the estates of the following personnel.  (This list will be updated by the MOD from time to time.)

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.