Estate search and cost recovery
The coucil has the right (where there are funds) to recover funeral and relevant administration costs from the estate of the deceased.
This may involve accessing the person's bank accounts, savings, investments, or selling personal belongings.
If an insurance policy or funeral plan is found, it will be used to decide who should carry out the funeral. It will also help identify the deceased's wishes, so these can be taken into account when funeral arrangements are made.
When we do this, we may need to enter and search the property of the person who has died. We need to identify assets, information and gather necessary paperwork or items of value. As part of this process, we may also look for details of relatives, a will, funeral wishes, faith, or bank detail. While we understand this is difficult, we ask that family and friends don't remove any items themselves. In some cases, we will receive a referral for a public health funeral and have no kin information available to us and we will try to contact anyone we can using the documents or information found.
Genealogy companies
We do not use genealogy companies to trace family members.
If you are contacted by a genealogy company, we suggest you go on to the Government Legal Team website to look for any family members who may appear on their BV List (a public record, managed by the Bona Vacantia Division, that contains estates where the deceased died without a valid will and no relatives or heirs have come forward).
Please note: Signing contracts with genealogy companies may incur costs.