bona vacantia
Legally abandoned assets
Bona vacantia is a legal term for property without an apparent owner.
When someone dies without heirs or a valid will, their estate becomes bona vacantia and typically passes to the state.
The term comes from Latin meaning "ownerless goods." Corporate assets may also become bona vacantia when a company dissolves without distributing them.
Not yet taken
- ownerlessHaving no possessor
- heirlessHaving no inheritor
- intestateHaving made no will
- escheatState inherits heirless estates
abandoned · dormant · disclaimed · reversion · forfeiture · lapse · devolution · state ownership
Will validation proceedings
- administratorPerson who manages operations
- liquidatorOne who dissolves entities
- receivershipCourt-ordered asset management
- liquidationSelling assets for cash
exchequer · treasury · asset recovery · registry · claims process · advertisement · tracing · distribution
Hidden accumulated valuables
- buried treasureValuables interred for safekeeping
- treasure troveOwnerless valuables found hidden
- coinsMetal money units
- goldElement seventy-nine
silver · antiquities · artifacts · relics · unearthed · discovery · excavation · ancient
unclaimed
Not yet taken
escheat · abandoned · dormant · disclaimed · reversion · forfeiture · lapse · devolution · state ownership · legal title
probate
Will validation proceedings
- administratorPerson who manages operations
- liquidatorOne who dissolves entities
- receivershipCourt-ordered asset management
liquidation · exchequer · treasury · asset recovery · registry · claims process · advertisement · tracing · distribution
hoard
Hidden accumulated valuables
- buried treasureValuables interred for safekeeping
- treasure troveOwnerless valuables found hidden
- coinsMetal money units
gold · silver · antiquities · artifacts · relics · unearthed · discovery · excavation · ancient · finder
corporate assets
Property owned by companies
- Legal Latinab initio, caveat emptor, certiorari, de facto, de jure
- inheritanceinheritance, inheritances, heir, heirs, heiress
- ownerlessstray, abandoned, unclaimed, unowned, ownerless
- abandonment lawabandonment, neglect, desertion, forsaking, relinquishment
bona vacantiainherited property
Assets received from deceased
patrimony · heritable property · heirloom · birthright · legacy
vacation, vacant, vacancy, vacate, evacuation, evacuate, bona fide, vacated, vacating