bona vacantia

Bona Vacantia is partly a common law doctrine and partly found in statute.

Liabilities associated with assets do not automatically follow those assets into Bona Vacantia.

Bona vacantia belongs to the Crown, and the Crown is not obliged to deal with it in any particular way.

Proceeds from Bona Vacantia in the Duchy are divided between two registered charities.

This statement is called a 'Bona Vacantia waiver letter', and must be obtained from the relevant Crown representative.

Bona vacantia literally means "vacant goods" and is the technical name for property that passes to the Crown because it does not have a legal owner.

A Bona Vacantia Waiver Letter (unless the company had no assets at the time of strike off).

What is a Bona Vacantia Waiver Letter?

Working with the public "Bona Vacantia" is the legal name for ownerless property that is passed to the Crown.

Bona Vacantia is applied according to the laws of the relevant province, the roots of the laws tracing back to Roman law.

The Duke has the right to the estates of all those who die without named heirs (Bona Vacantia) in the whole of Cornwall.

Find information about bona vacantia on the Bona Vacantia website - Opens in a new window.

Bona Vacantia was inherited from English Common Law and continues in the form of Unclaimed Property Laws, which vary by state.

Bona vacantia arrangements in the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster are dealt with by Farrer and Co.

Bona Vacantia assets in Scotland are not aggregated with those from elsewhere in the United Kingdom, being paid directly into the Scottish Consolidated Fund.

A BBC1 programme Heir Hunters, broadcast on 21 July 2008, showed a search for heirs to his estate which had been listed on Bona Vacantia.

Unfortunately this never happened and through the Bona Vacantia principle title to the building eventually fell to the Duchy of Lancaster, which is the private property portfolio of the British monarch.

Bona Vacantia Guidance An explanation about what bona vacantia is and how unallocated payments identified as bona vacantia should be dealt with.

The Bona Vacantia Division of the Treasury Solicitor's Office is then responsible for dealing with the property and rights which were beneficially owned by the dissolved company - this does not include any assets held on trust for another person.

In England and Wales (other than the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall), this property is administered by the Bona Vacantia Division of the Treasury Solicitor's Department.

If you have any questions about what happens to a dissolved company's assets, or any aspect of ownerless property or 'bona vacantia', the Treasury Solicitor's Bona Vacantia Division (BVD) should be able to help.

In Scotland, Bona Vacantia deals with assets of dissolved companies, the assets of missing persons and lost or abandoned property; lost or abandoned property involves a statutory saving for the Crown in ss.67-79 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

Both the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall have special legal rights not available to other estates held by peers, counties palatine - for example Bona Vacantia operates to the advantage of the Duke rather than the Crown throughout the historic Duchy.

In England and Wales, the Bona Vacantia Division of the Treasury Solicitor's Department of the UK Government is responsible for dealing with bona vacantia assets except in the Duchy of Lancaster or the Duchy of Cornwall.

Bona Vacantia arises, in origin, by virtue of the Royal Prerogative and in some respects this remains the position although the right to bona vacantia of the two major categories is now based on statute: Administration of Estates Act 1925 and the Companies Act 2006.