Dormant Balances

Take the necessary steps to return unclaimed funds

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) expects legal professionals to take all the necessary steps to return unclaimed client funds. If the client can’t be found, solicitors need to justify any client funds that remain unclaimed by providing evidence to show they have tried to trace the client.

We can help in both instances

The Law Society recommends the use of a tracing agent as one of the steps you can take to locate missing clients. If your firm’s attempts to locate missing clients have been unsuccessful, we can use our many years of experience to attempt to trace them. Our Dormant Balance service includes:

Locating a current UK address
Identifying any forwarding addresses
Establishing if a client has died

If we can’t find a likely forwarding address or evidence of death, our report will indicate this, allowing you to make alternative arrangements in accordance with your firm’s own policies.

Dormant balances in high volumes

We can review any number of dormant accounts that you may have – from one to 10,000 or more. We have experience in dealing with all volumes. There are economies of scale so the price decreases as the volume increases.

We can work around the world

We can work in most jurisdictions around the world. Recent examples include South Korea, Australia, the United States and Swaziland. Our Client Services Team are on hand to discuss a particular jurisdiction in more detail.

Transparent pricing

We never charge a percentage of the sum held on account. We believe that every client should receive the maximum amount possible. In many cases, we can arrange a fixed fee per missing client we search for.

Case study: Client funds finally reclaimed

We were approached by a solicitor who had unclaimed funds on account. They had written to the beneficiary at their stated address in the deceased’s Will multiple times, however, they had never received a response. We identified their current address, allowing our solicitor client to write to them. The missing client responded to the letter and claimed their funds and the solicitor was able to close their file.