It’s the stuff fairy tales are made of – a forgotten Will coming to land and landing an unsuspecting heir with a fortune.

But if your name is on the list below you could be the beneficiary of an unclaimed estate you never even knew about.

In Leicestershire and Leicester there are currently 120 such estates where someone has passed away with making a will or with no next of kin.

According to Finders International- a specialist probate genealogist team- family members and heirs have just 12 years to claim an estate once it has been reported unclaimed to the Crown.

Danny Curran, star of BBC Heir Hunters and MD of Finders International told our sister paper the Birmingham Mail: “These estates are waiting to be claimed from the government, who are sitting on the fortunes of over ten thousand people across the UK.”

Any individual can check the Central Probate Registry to see if any next of kin are on the unclaimed list.

The list has seen a sharp increase in numbers over the past few years after government cuts mean that there is no search for a Will before an unclaimed estate is added to the list.

Danny Curran explained that this inexpensive search will save a lot of wasted time when searching for next of kin

He added: “Valid wills do exist for approximately one in every five cases currently being advertised by the Government as intestacies.

“Many relatives are being needlessly traced only to find their expectations are dashed.

“The solution to this escalating problem is simple: The Bona Vacantia division should revert to an inexpensive Will search prior to advertising estates.

“Where valid Wills are found, the estate does not need to be advertised.

“This would also ensure the deceased’s wishes are met.”

These are the surnames of unclaimed Leicestershire estates.

You can find more information at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/unclaimed-estates-list

Abbott

Almey

Anderson

Armstrong

Bailey

Barker

Barton

Billingham

Bird

Bodor

Bramley

Brereton

Brooks

Chaplain

Charles

Chilko

Condon

Connolley

Cooley

Cooper

Dalby

Disley

Doherty

Eaves

Eccles

Eddleston

Emmerson

Erlloy

Fenton

Forsyth

Gamble

Gent

Godhino

Goodison

Gray

Greaves

Griffiths

Hachulski

Hall

Hanley

Harris

Harrison

Hayes

Haynes

Henderson

Hethering

Hill

Holdaway

Holhos

Ison

James

Jarmulow

Jastrza

Jennings

Johnson

Jones

Joshi

Kelly

Kociuba

Kolodij

Kopacsi

Kucko

Kusmider

Kutka

Lane

Lawrie

Lickman

Liddell

Long

Magennis

Mahon

Manning

Master

Maughan

McKusker

McDonald

Meaney

Measures

Milan

Moran

Morris

Morrow

Mullahy

Murray

Newman

Nytz

Omnaath

Paeglis

Payne

Pitman-Jones

Platt

Ponting

Prinze

Raven

Rench

Riley

Rogers

Ryan

Samuels

Sharpe

Shipley

Simpson

Smith

Sparkes

Stevenson

Tayler

Thompson

Toye

Tungas

Turkalo

Vazquez

Von Hehenzo

Wallen

Ward

Wasylak

Wayman

Wheldale

Whyatt

Wombell

Worrall

This article has been first published in hinckleytimes.net