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You could be owed thousands of pounds without even realising it according to a list of inheritance cash and assets owed to people that has yet to be claimed.

The government's unclaimed estates list has been updated for 2026 and contains 5,344 estates left behind by people which have not yet been distributed to their rightful heirs, along with their name, date of death and their place of death.

The estates have gone unclaimed because no eligible relatives have yet come forward, or the people named in the will have not been contactable.

While there are thousands of names on the list, a law firm based in Scotland has analysed the data and found the 10 most common surnames which feature and could be owed big money.

Glasgow solicitors HD Claims says that some unclaimed estates have been left for as long as 50 years without being claimed.

It said: "Thousands of families across the UK could be unaware they are entitled to inherit, as new analysis shows everyday surnames dominate unclaimed estates.

"Some of the most common surnames in the UK - including Smith, Jones, Brown, Taylor and Wilson - appear repeatedly on the government's unclaimed estates list, according to new analysis by Glasgow solicitors HD Claims.

"The study, based on 5,344 unclaimed estates published by the UK Government, shows that estates linked to everyday family names account for a significant share of cases that have gone unclaimed - often for decades - because no eligible relatives have come forward."

Some estates have been unclaimed for more than 50 years, but at the same time, the list continues to grow. More than 140 estates linked to deaths in 2024 and 2025 already appear on the register, showing how quickly estates can become legally unclaimed when no entitled relatives are identified.

An estate becomes unclaimed when no entitled relatives are identified within the legal timeframe, meaning it passes to the Crown. Contributing factors commonly include:

• No will or outdated wills

• Family estrangement or limited contact

• Relatives living in different parts of the UK or abroad

• Changes of name through marriage or migration

• Missing or incomplete records

Crucially, estates listed as unclaimed can still be claimed by rightful heirs, sometimes many years later, provided entitlement can be proven.

A spokesperson for HD Claims said: "People often assume unclaimed estates only involve distant relatives or unusual circumstances, but the data shows the opposite. Some of the most common surnames in the UK appear again and again. That means ordinary families could be entitled to inherit without ever realising it.

"Where surnames are common, tracing entitlement can be more complex - especially when families are spread across the UK or overseas, or when there is no will in place."

The 10 most common surnames on the list are:

To check if there's an estate you think could be owed to you on the full listclick here.