Are You a Beneficiary and Don’t Know?

Right now, you could be the rightful owner of a $1.9 Million Estate in BC and you don’t even know. The British Columbia Unclaimed Property Society (BCUPS) has control of an Estate worth $1.9 Million. This is the largest unclaimed account they have ever seen, and it is all because they don’t know what to do with the asset. This is where the importance of keeping your documents up to date can come into play.

In BC alone according to the BCUPS, there are around $177 million of unclaimed assets they have collected over the years. This happens when people forget about their assets and don’t have anyone else claim their estate. This shows the importance of keeping track of your assets.

It is also important to check different countries because there is no universal database where you can see if you have any unclaimed assets around the world. For example, the USA has the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA). Considering NAUPA is across the whole USA it was recorded that in 2020 they returned $2.8 Billion worth of property to the rightful owner. Considering the number of people who had property returned to them on average people got around $1,600. That means anyone could have around $1,600 just waiting for them in the USA right now!

It is also important to check for unclaimed estate outside of your continent. For example, in the UK any unclaimed assets go to the Crown. After someone’s death if an asset isn’t claimed it will go on the unclaimed estate list for 30 years. Once the 30 years have passed it will be impossible for anyone to make a claim on the estate.

It is hard to know if you have unclaimed assets in a different part of the world. Therefore, it is always important to keep track of any relatives you might have along with making sure all your financial assets are in place. Keeping track of all possible assets you have own can be challenging but an executor can help you. With assistance from an experienced executor, they could search for any forgotten asset you might not know about.

 

If you wish to see if you have any unclaimed estate in the British Columbia, go to the website below:

Unclaimed Estate in BC

If you wish to see if you have any unclaimed estate in the United States of America, go to the website below:

Unclaimed Estate in the USA

If you wish to see if you have any unclaimed estate in the United Kingdom, go to the website below:

Unclaimed Estate in the UK