es‧cheat /ɪsˈtʃiːt/ noun [countable] American English law
[Date: 1200-1300; Language: Old French; Origin: eschete, from escheoir 'to fall, be given to another', from Latin cadere 'to fall']
a legal process in which someone’s money and property are given to the state after they die if they do not have a will, or if there is nobody else with a legal right to receive their money or property

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲