Bona Vacantia - England and Wales

England and Wales

Bona Vacantia is partly a common law doctrine and partly found in statute. It deals with:

• Assets of dissolved companies that have failed to be distributed
• Assets of dissolved unincorporated associations that have failed to be distributed
• Assets of the estates of deceased persons that have failed to be distributed due to intestacy and a lack of known persons entitled to inherit
• Some failed trust property

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. The Treasury Solicitor is appointed by Royal Warrant to be the Crown's Nominee for the collection of Bona Vacantia

The Division has a detailed website which sets out full practices and procedures. In estates cases the Division first seeks (by advertisement and some enquiry) heirs to an estate and if none come to their notice then eventually the assets are realised and the balance transferred to HM Treasury. The process can take a number of years to complete and deals only with solvent estates whose net value exceeds £500.

In dissolved company cases the assets automatically pass to the Crown by law, are realised by the Division and the revenue passed to the Exchequer. The Division has a power to disclaim onerous assets and will routinely disclaim land in adverse possession, but not in every case. Liabilities associated with assets do not automatically follow those assets into Bona Vacantia. Care should be taken to distinguish between assets remaining when dissolution commences (which, e.g., might be distributed to shareholders or others in that process) and those that for various valid reasons remain undistributed at the end of dissolution. Some assets might only come to notice after dissolution has taken place.

In the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster, a firm of solicitors, Farrer & Co, deals with bona vacantia. In both cases, if no rightful owner is found for the assets, they are donated to charity.