escheat

  1. Noun.  (legal) The return of property of a deceased person to the state (originally to a feudal lord) where there are no legal heirs or claimants.
  2. Noun.  (legal) The property so reverted.
  3. Noun.  (obsolete) Plunder, booty.
  4. Verb.  to revert by this process.

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This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.