Claim or refer an unclaimed estate

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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

Find out if you’re entitled to a share of the estate.

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.

View a printable version of the whole guide