What happens to a bank account when no will has been made & no next of kin exist?
Without a will, Probate procedures automatically deal with the estate under the rulings of a court. If you do not have some connection to the deceased (ex-spouse, creditor etc) that might enable you to make a claim on the estate to the court, then the estate money gets processed through Probate to the government’s general revenue (Treasury). If a bank is never made aware that their customer is deceased, then that Bank would retain the account and the funds on hold, paying interest usually, until the legal number of years pass (dependent on the country and the Tax Office laws – you can ask bank or tax office this as a public question). So after say 5 or 7 years, the funds would then be transferred by the bank into the Governments general revenue and no further interest will be paid to the account. The details of the account (name and amount at minimum) would then be published in the government gazettes under Unclaimed Monies, or some such title. Any future claim would then have to be su
