Birmingham Live<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhilst the average value of these estates is \u00a3270,000, some could be worth significantly more.<\/p>\n
Most of these unclaimed estates are located in London and the South East, but 253 can be found in the West Midlands.<\/p>\n
The most common surnames at the top of the list include:<\/p>\n
Smith – 94Jones – 55Brown – 45Williams – 35Taylor – 29Wilson – 27Davies – 26Johnson – 26Thomas – 24Harris – 21<\/p>\n
Richard Bate, a finance expert at private wealth lawyers Weightmans, stated: “Creating a will is more than just a legal necessity; it’s a critical component of financial wellness.<\/p>\n
“Without a clear will, you’re leaving the fate of your assets up to the courts, which can lead to long, stressful disputes among your potential heirs.<\/p>\n
“By taking proactive steps in estate planning and utilising available resources, individuals can significantly reduce the chances of their estates becoming unclaimed.<\/p>\n
“Ensuring that your final wishes are clearly documented and legally protected not only secures your legacy but also eases the burden on your loved ones during a challenging time.”<\/p>\n
Make sure our latest stories always feature at the top of your Google Search by setting us as a Preferred Source. Click here<\/a> to enable or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People with certain surnames might be unaware that they could lay claim to estates averaging \u00a3270,000 in value.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,173864,4176,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-492319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-families-kids","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}