The person to whose estate you may be entitled, or partly entitled, has died without leaving a Will, and therefore “intestate”. By law, their estate (the money they have and the property they own) will pass to their next of kin, a spouse, children or sibling. 

However, sometimes there are no known family members, in which case the estate becomes known as "Bona Vacantia" (latin for "Vacant Goods") and the government will take it unless entitled relatives come forward. 

 We carry out extensive family history research to identify and locate possible family members (beneficiaries) to inherit the estate of the person who has died. Quite often the beneficiaries we find as entitled family members know very little or nothing about the deceased person leaving the estate. 

We supply all of the birth, marriage and deaths certificates also family tree reports and family tree charts required as proof of your own family connection to the deceased person. The Solicitors require all of this documention and your applications to submit to the sheriff courts.

I am enclosing our standard contract for you and your witness to sign and date. Please read it carefully and if you are agreeable, sign both copies and return one to us, keeping the other for your own records. The Solicitors will then contact you to begin the process of establishing your claim. 

This will be fairly simple for you. As all of the legal documentation process required will be carried out by Scottish based lawyers & solicitors who will process your administration and confirmation claims through the Scottish sheriff courts for completion. 

We will have already gathered most of the birth, death, marriage certificates and produced family tree reports etc necessary to submit to the courts to establish the family link between yourself and the deceased person.