People may be entitled to a forgotten fortune of more than half a million pounds in unclaimed inheritance.

Records from the Treasury reveal there are dozens of unclaimed estates across North Somerset, which could see people claim hundreds of thousands they are rightly owed from lost loved ones.

The values of estates are not published by the Treasury, however, details published by the estate hunting firm Fraser And Fraser reveal unclaimed estates linked to North Somerset and Weston with four of them having a total value of nearly £700,000.

People in the area may be entitled to these forgotten fortunes if they can prove they are related to one of the deceased who died without leaving a legal will.

A total of 30 estates are unclaimed across the district.

The full list only includes details of estates worth at least £500.

Claims can be made by parents, siblings, husbands, wives, civil partners, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, cousins, half brothers and half sisters are also entitled to make claims.

If you believe you are related to one of the following people, it might be worth investigating to see whether you are entitled to make a claim.

Maria Louisa Joanna Buys, who died in Weston, was a widow, born in Belgium, who left an unclaimed inheritance of £14,000.

William Bennett died in Weston on October 9 2008, aged 67. He was a bachelor, born in Bristol, who left an unclaimed estate of £25,000.

Robin Anthony John Slaney was born in Kings Heath, Birmingham and died in Weston. His estate is worth £125,000. He is believed to have family ties in the area.

May Whittikar, was a widow, who died in Weston leaving an estate worth £521,013.

There are a further 26 unclaimed estates linked to North Somerset, with more than 15,000 across the UK.

Professional estate hunting firms offer a service to research a claim on a person’s behalf.

However, they often charge high premiums to cover the cost of their research.

To claim on a person’s estate, you need to send a family tree, proving your relationship to the deceased, to The Bona Vacantia division (BVD) of the Government, which is responsible for the estates of people who die without leaving a will.