Russian President Vladimir Putin has established new rules allowing the state to take ownership of unclaimed money and precious metals held in bank accounts.
Under the decree, published on the Russian government official legal acts portal, the assets will enter the federal budget five years after being officially recognized as escheat property. The regulation applies specifically to bank accounts and investment deposits where no inheritance proceedings have been opened.
The order covers financial holdings that belonged to deceased Russian citizens but were never claimed by legal heirs. The government right to seize the assets will be confirmed through an official list of individuals whose property has been legally designated as escheat.
Compiling the national asset registry
The Federal Agency for State Property Management, known as Rosimushchestvo, has been tasked with creating and maintaining the centralized list. The agency is responsible for overseeing state property, managing federal assets, and taking custody of confiscated or ownerless wealth across the Russian Federation.
Rosimushchestvo will compile the register using records supplied by the Federal Tax Service, notary chambers, court bailiffs, and commercial banks. In Russia, licensed notaries handle all probate dockets, while the tax service monitors accounts and financial assets across the banking sector. Verifying these records ensures that accounts are not seized if relatives are actively pursuing an inheritance claim.
In civil jurisprudence, escheat refers to ownerless property that reverts to the state when an individual dies without leaving a valid will and without any surviving legal heirs. Under standard Russian civil law, relatives have a period of six months following a death to initiate probate proceedings. While local municipalities have long possessed legal frameworks to claim abandoned apartments, liquid balances and precious metals in bank deposits have often remained frozen in commercial institutions.
Legislative proposals and inheritance cases
Unclaimed estates have previously attracted domestic attention in prominent inheritance disputes. Russian media earlier reported that a Moscow apartment belonging to actress Ksenia Kachalina faced the prospect of being declared escheat property because Anna-Maria, her daughter with Merited Artist of Russia Mikhail Efremov, did not take steps to claim her inheritance.
The decree sets a firm timetable for the Russian government to expand the system. Ministers have been instructed to submit legislative proposals by April 1, 2027, establishing the exact statutory procedure for identifying property suitable for transfer into Russian state ownership.
