A bank balance that was never distributed. A property that was never transferred out. An insurance claim or a debt owed to the company that nobody pursued. When the company was dissolved, all of it passed to the Crown. Every year millions of pounds go this way and only a fraction is ever reclaimed, because the people entitled to it assume it is lost. It is not.
On dissolution, a company's remaining assets become bona vacantia: ownerless goods, which by law pass to the Crown. In England and Wales they are handled by the Bona Vacantia Division; in Scotland by the King's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer. Bank balances are transferred over. Property sits in the Crown's name. Claims lapse unless someone revives the company to bring them.
The Crown has no duty to find you. It waits.
Restore the company. Once restored it is treated as if it had never been dissolved, and the assets return to it, after which they can be properly distributed and the company closed correctly this time.
Where the Crown has already dealt with an asset, for example sold a property, there are routes to the proceeds, subject to the Crown's discretion and time limits. The assessment maps them.
Standing to apply sits with former directors and shareholders. If that is you, straightforward. If the company was your parent's, or a family business dissolved a generation ago, we trace the chain and establish who can act.
Assessment, £295, credited against your fee if you proceed. Written answer in 48 hours.
Managed administrative restoration, £1,750 fixed. Full handling, including Crown correspondence and filings coordination. Companies House fees, late-filing penalties and other government charges are itemised separately and confirmed before you commit.
Court-route restoration, from £3,950 fixed, including partner-solicitor fees.
Completion or court date at risk? Expedited handling available, priced on assessment.
Where the asset is substantial, or where the client would rather not fund fees in advance, we can act on a percentage of recovery instead. Say so in the form.
Often you do not. Tell us the company name; establishing what the Crown holds is the first thing the assessment does.
Restoration is normally barred, but the Crown's discretionary routes to funds remain in some cases. Worth the assessment.
Yes. That is estate asset tracing, and it is one of the things we do most.
Restoration requires the company's filings to be brought up to date. We coordinate that and tell you what it will cost before you commit.
Send the company number, or the company name and what has happened. You will receive a written assessment within two working days: what has happened, whether it can be fixed, the route, the price and the timescale. The assessment fee of £295 is credited against your fee if you instruct us.