$40 Million No Heirs: Roman Blum left a fortune of  $40 million but no heirs to inherit it. Thus, the State of New York may take it. Blum left no will to indicate his wishes. In Jan. of 2012, Roman Blum passed away at the age of 97.

Blum, a Holocaust survivor who eventually became a real estate developer in New York, had an estimated worth of close to $40 million.  Since Blum passed away, the $40 million has been sitting in his accounts unused. Nobody can find any living heirs.

The $40 million may end up being property of the state of New York if there are no heirs found.

There's a strange legal loophole to regulate cases like this one called "escheat". It indicates that after someone dies, if no heirs or family members comes forward to claim their assets, the money goes to the state after after three years. So in the Blum case, if, in the next year and a half, nobody comes forward to claim Blum's fortune, the state of New York will be $40 million richer.  His relatives are being sought, but nobody has yet come forward.

Blum didn't have a will. He and his lawyer met about two weeks before his passing in order to create one, but before it could be executed, Blum passed away. "But by then it was too late. We came this close, but we missed the boat," his lawyer said.

Reportedly, Blum's body sat in the morgue of the Staten Island University Hospital for four days after his death. His wife passed away in 1992 and the couple had no children. Eventually, a rabbi located Blum's lawyer.

Blum did have a small funeral, which was attended by a small group mostly consisting of elderly Holocaust survivors and their families. His  $40 million fortune remains on earth, but it appears likely that because there are no heirs, it will go to New York State.