What happens to the money in their bank account? Does the bank get notified of the death?
If your car is randomly parked somewhere away from your house when you die, what would happen to it?
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I’m the UK this goes to Probate, where the legal system deals with it. If there is no family, even distant members, then the assets are sold and the funds go to the government.
Vehicles parked would eventually come to the attention of the police, who would see the owner had passed.
This applies to the U.S. I can’t speak to any other country.
Very few people have absolutely *no* family whatsoever. Even a distance cousin can inherit if there is no one closer. If there really is no one, or no one can be immediately identified, the property of the deceased becomes the property of the state. If a relative is found within a certain amount of time, usually 5 years, they can take possession of the decedent’s property. If not, the state gets that property permanently do with as they please.
Assuming the person who dies is identified, their bank can be notified and any money in the account becomes part of their estate. If their car is parked in a random spot, eventually it will most likely get towed. If it can be traced to the decedent, it will become part of their estate. If not, it will be handled like any other abandoned or unclaimed vehicle, which means sold if it’s worth anything, or if not, scrapped.
Depends which country it happens in. In the UK, after the body is discovered, it would generally go to the local council to bury the person, (unless they die in hospital), the council would then recover the costs of the funeral from the estate, ( if there is any money to recover), then central government would receive the estate to dispose of.
Most municipalities and cities have an office who can act as an executor of the estate. At least until a family member can be found. Even then they might be asked to work as the executor if the relative is distant. They will follow the last will as best as possible and will close down any accounts and liquidate any assets through auction. Most of these are self-funded through fees charged to the estates they manage. However they are still non-for-profit government controlled organizations. If there is no will or the will does not specify a valid heir then the money will usually be used to pay the fees of those deceased who can not pay them.
In the US there are law firms that track down distant relatives of unclaimed estates. The one that found me took a 50% finders fee.
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