Definition

1. Noun:
   • The property that reverts to the state: The assets, land, or estate that legally transfers to the government or crown when a person dies without a will (intestate) and without any legal heirs or claimants.
   • A reversion to the state: The legal process or doctrine itself by which such property passes to the state as the ultimate owner.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • After a long search for relatives proved fruitless, the old man's estate was declared an escheat and passed to the state.
  • The law of escheat ensures that property does not remain ownerless.

Advanced Usage

• "To escheat to": This verb form describes the action of property reverting to the state.
  • If no heir is found, the land will escheat to the Crown.
• "Subject to escheat": A legal phrase describing property that is liable to revert to the state under these conditions.
  • Unclaimed bank accounts may become subject to escheat after a statutory period.

Variants and Related Words

• Escheatable (adj): Describing property that is liable to escheat.
  • The court determined the assets were escheatable.
• Escheatage (n): An archaic term for the right of the sovereign to receive escheated property.

Synonyms

• Forfeiture: The loss of property or a right as a penalty. (Note: Escheat is a specific type of forfeiture due to lack of heirs, not a penalty.)
• Reversion: The return of an estate to the grantor or their heirs. (Note: Escheat is a reversion specifically to the state.)

Related Phrases

• Bona vacantia: A related legal concept (Latin for "ownerless goods") referring to property with no obvious owner, which may also pass to the state. Escheat is often a category within laws.
• Intestate succession: The legal process of distributing the estate of someone who dies without a will. Escheat occurs when this process exhausts all possible heirs.

Noun

1. the property that reverts to the state
2. a reversion to the state (as the ultimate owner of property) in the absence of legal heirs