The assets of more and more people are finding their way into the pockets of Her Majesty, Prince Charles, or the Treasury because they are failing to make a will.
Research from law firm Pannone has found that assets from deceased people with no named beneficiaries - known as intestacies - in England and Wales totalled £38.5m in 2011/12, a rise of 91% on the year before. Pannone believes that the majority of these ownerless assets - known as 'bona vacantia' - were smaller estates, rather than being made up of higher value intestacies. Pannone's Liz Braude said: "There is no clear explanation, thought, as to why the amount of bona vacantia has risen by so much in such a relatively short space of time. "One must presume that some cases of this ...
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