escheat

American  

[es-cheet] / ɛsˈtʃit /

noun

• escheats
  plural

1. Also escheatment the reverting of property to the state or some agency of the state, or, as in England, to the lord of the fee or to the crown, when there is a failure of persons legally qualified to inherit or to claim.

2. the right to take property subject to escheat.

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verb (used without object)

1. to revert by escheat, as to the crown or the state.

verb (used with object)

1. to make an escheat of; confiscate.

escheat British  

/ ɪsˈtʃiːt /

noun

1. (in England before 1926) the reversion of property to the Crown in the absence of legal heirs

2. (in feudal times) the reversion of property to the feudal lord in the absence of legal heirs or upon outlawry of the tenant

3. the property so reverting

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verb

1. to take (land) by escheat or (of land) to revert by escheat

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• escheatage
  noun
• escheatable
  adjective
• unescheatable
  adjective
• unescheated
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• escheats
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of escheat

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English eschete, exschete, from Old French eschete, eschaete, escheoite, feminine past participle of escheoir, from Vulgar Latin excadēre (unrecorded) “to fall to a person's share,” equivalent to Latin ex- ex- ¹ + cadere “to fall” ( Vulgar Latin cadēre )

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

escheat escheats

ICI wrote that Florida enacted a measure and “prematurely” allowed over $1 billion in securities to escheat to the state.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

Under the English and Welsh legal system, the freehold is now subject to an unusual and ancient process known as "escheat".

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2024

Though "not entirely one of logic," said Black, Florida's escheat rule is easiest to apply and will save countless court fights in the future.

From Time Magazine Archive

Last week, in a Texas suit involving three other states,*the Supreme Court issued a milestone escheat rule that finally made sense out of chaos.

From Time Magazine Archive

The estate would escheat to the king, Hanoverian or Scotchman, before it came to me.

From The Two Admirals by James Fenimore Cooper

The Sheriffs, by their counsel, shall approve and let to farm such wards and escheats as they think most profitable for the King.

From Our Legal Heritage by S. A. Reilly

The patents entitled them to all rents and escheats, with power to convey all vacant lands, nominate sheriffs, escheators, surveyors, etc., present to all churches and endow them with lands, to form counties, parishes, etc.

From History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia by Charles Campbell

Hence, the feudal baron is invested with his fief by the suzerain, holds it from him, and to him it escheats when forfeited or vacant.

From The American Republic : constitution, tendencies and destiny by Orestes Augustus Brownson

The escheats were a great branch both of power and of revenue, especially during the first reigns after the Conquest.

From The History of England, Volume I by David Hume

Lawyers, indeed, tell us that the eminent domain is in the particular State, and that all escheats are to the State, not to the United States.

From The American Republic : constitution, tendencies and destiny by Orestes Augustus Brownson

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