Have you ever been curious about who obtains your property if you die without a will and with no immediate heirs? Where does it go? To a bank, a neighbor, a lottery?
Dying without a valid will is called intestate. Conversely, if someone dies with a valid will, it is referred to as testate. An heir is someone a descendent associated with, relative or spouse typically, who can make an ownership claim on her property.
In the US, the power of escheat is the right of a state government to claim property under these circumstances. This concept is derived from English common law and goes back to feudal times. In medieval England, the King was the ultimate landowner. Surfs farmed and worked the land on behalf of a king. If a knight died without property disposition instruction, his property went to a baron, a step above a knight in the feudal cast system. If a baron died intestate and without heirs, the property reverted directly to the king (this is one of the reasons that ‘it’s good to be the king’).
Even today, the Queen of England is the largest landowner in the world. Technically, the British Monarch owns the land of Great Britain, most of Canada, and various other properties throughout the world.
In the US, state governments, and not the federal government, are analogous to the king under the concept of escheat and state governments are therefore the ultimate property owners. Although escheat applies to both personal and real property, active ownership is particular important to real property. Personal property such as money can sit in a bank account indefinitely and cars can be towed to junkyards, but abandoning real property is problematic. Who will be responsible for the maintenance, physical and financial (i.e., pay the property taxes) of land? With the power of escheat, the state government can take ownership of the land and return it to active ownership. Therefore, escheat is nothing to sneeze at (say escheat three time out-loud quickly and you just might get this pun).
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