Next of kin

reggierose69

Hi sadly a very dear friend has recently passed away, he had no family at all one sister who passed away some years ago.
my question is I was down as his next of kin at the hospice where he passed away, I have his bank cards and am going to the bank to inform them of his passing, I know he has a fair amount of money in his account and wondered if as next of kin would I inherit it. There is no will so am just curious as to where his estate will go.
thank you for any help

Brynsam

I'm afraid not. If there are no surviving relatives who can inherit under the rules of intestacy, the estate passes to the Crown. This is known as bona vacantia. The Treasury Solicitor is then responsible for dealing with the estate. The Crown can make grants from the estate but does not have to agree to them.

If you are not a surviving relative, but you believe you have a good reason to apply for a grant, you will need legal advice.

For more information about bona vacantia go to the GOV.UK website at www.gov.uk.

elsien

Next of kin has little meaning in legal terms. It's the nominated person to keep informed because hospices like to have a named contact, that is all.
If someone dies without a will then the intestacy laws come into play. If you are not related you  have no claim. 
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/death-and-wills/who-can-inherit-if-there-is-no-will-the-rules-of-intestacy/

Mojisola

reggierose69 said:

Hi sadly a very dear friend has recently passed away, he had no family at all one sister who passed away some years ago.
I know he has a fair amount of money in his account

There is no will so am just curious as to where his estate will go.

Assuming neither he nor his sister had children, the search would be on for more distant relatives - descendants of aunts and uncles, initially.  As said above, if there are no descendants, the Crown gets the money.

McKneff

Did the sister have any descendants or husband