National Ultimus Haeres Unit (NUHU)
Where a person who is domiciled in Scotland dies without leaving a Will (often referred to as dying intestate) and has no known and traceable blood relatives, spouse or civil partner who would be entitled by law to succeed to his/her property, or cohabitant who would be entitled to make a claim under section 29 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006, then the property in their estate, both heritable and moveable, falls to the Crown as ultimus haeres (literally meaning Last Heir).
A Scotland-wide National Ultimus Haeres Unit, which is part of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, has been set up in the Hamilton Procurator Fiscal’s Office to investigate such estates in Scotland.
NUHU will make preliminary inquiries as regards a deceased’s estate and where the estate is likely to be solvent but no relatives can be traced the Unit will pass information regarding the estate to the office of the King's and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer (KLTR) who will administer any estate which has fallen to the Crown as ultimus haeres.
A list of potential ultimus haeres estates which have been reported to and are presently undergoing investigation by NUHU can be found by clicking on the following link.
If you have an enquiry and need to contact the Unit the address is:
The National Ultimus Haeres Unit
Procurator Fiscal Office
Cameronian House
3/5 Almada Street
Hamilton
ML3 0HG
Telephone Number: 0300 020 4196 or 0141 420 8804
or alternatively please e-mail: