The story of the ‘lost’ assets of two deceased Omagh natives

LONG-LOST relatives of two Omagh natives could be sitting on a fortune without even knowing it.

Teresa Buckley and Mervyn Foster both died in England without leaving a will or details of their next of kin. When someone dies in such circumstances, their property comes under the stewardship of the British Government’s Treasury department as ownerless property, also known as ‘bona vacantia’. It can be any kind of property, including buildings, money or personal possessions.

The Treasury department regularly publishes a list of unclaimed estates in a bid to find people entitled to the deceased person’s assets.

Details of Omagh-born Mrs Buckley, who died last year, have recently been added to the list.

She died in Stockport, Cheshire on November 11, 2024, at the age of 64.

According to the basic information shared by the Treasury department on its unclaimed estates list, Mrs Buckley’s maiden name was Clifton and she was born in Omagh on June 15, 1960.

There is no other information about the deceased woman, or the size of her estate.

While Mrs Buckley’s details have only been recently added to the unclaimed list following her death, the estate of an Omagh man remains unclaimed 24 years after his death.

Mervyn Foster died at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands on March 17, 2001, at the age of 81.

Mr Foster, who, according the details released by the Treasury department, had also used the name Mervyn Lindsay, was born in Omagh on July 8, 1919.

Again, and as with all the deceased people on the unclaimed estates list, no information is provided about the extent of Mr Foster’s assets.

So, do you think you may be a relative of Mrs Buckley or Mr Foster and entitled to their estate?

If someone dies without leaving a valid or effective will, the following relations are entitled to the estate in the order shown below:

1. Husband, wife or civil partner
2. Children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and so on
3. Mother or father
4. Brothers or sisters who share both the same mother and father or their children (nieces and nephews)
5. Half brothers or sisters or their children (nieces and nephews of the half-blood or their children). ‘Half ’ means they share only one parent with the deceased
6. Grandparents
7. Uncles and aunts or their children (first cousins or their descendants)
8. Half-uncles and aunts or their children (first cousins of the half-blood or their children). ‘Half’ means they only share one grandparent with the deceased, not both

In general, estates held on the list can be claimed within a 12-year deadline, from the date the estate was taken into possession of the government.

However, in some cases, the government will allow claims up to 30 years from the date of the person’s death.

More information on how people can claim a deceased person’s estate is available on the government’s Bona Vacantia website.