(Part 1 of 2)

The state of California’s unclaimed funds program takes in approximately $300 million each year. Why should you care? Well, if you or anyone you know is or was a resident of the Golden State (or had any kind of business dealings, whether you knew it or not), some of that big heap of Cali missing money could very well belong to you!

Under the CA unclaimed property law, missing money such as forgotten checking and savings accounts, uncashed checks and money orders, mineral deposits, salary checks, cash and stock dividends, state of California unclaimed tax refunds, gift certificates, and other assets are turned over to the Treasury Dept. if the rightful owners don’t come for them within a certain time period. This ‘dormancy period’ varies from state to state, but in Cali it is 3 years. These forgotten funds then get moved to the California unclaimed property div, where they stay in the state’s general fund until returned to their rightful owners. This is where officials working for the state who handled Cali unclaimed cash were recently criticized. It seems that they have been eager to locate and take hold of the lost funds from the establishments holding on to them but but weren’t so keen on tracking down the actual owners in the Cali unclaimed money database.

One of the main reasons for the government’s inability to return forgotten money to its owners, according to the government, is the fact that they cannot be located. Problem is, who would think that people like Angelina Jolie, ZsaZsa Gabor, Gerri Halliwell, Victoria Beckham, Keanu Reeves, Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, Marlon Brando and Jennifer Lopez would be difficult to locate? Those names and the names of several other celebrities are just a few of the names in the Cali missing money list but they have not heard from the employees in the California Unclaimed Funds Division. They are all owed checks for forgotten funds by Cali amounting from hundreds to the thousands in Ms. Jolie’s case. This proves once again Cali state employees’ interest in keeping this cash in the general fund for them to balance the budget deficits for as long as they possibly can. In fact, there was recently a ruling by a federal judge on CA abandoned money, stating that the state was not trying hard enough to locate the rightful owners and has temporarily halted the ability of the state to seize it until a proper method of reuniting it with the rightful owners has been adopted.

(to be continued)

–

• Late filers can still get money – WEYI NBC25

• Late filers can still get money WEYI NBC25, MI - Aug 1, 2008 The IRS says there is about $46.4 in unclaimed money right now. If you need help filing your taxes, you can contact the Michigan League for Human Services …

$200000 Powerball prize goes unclaimed, Kansas Lottery says – Kansas City Star

$200000 Powerball prize goes unclaimed, Kansas Lottery says Kansas City Star, MO - 12 hours ago Just because none could produce the winning ticket, it didn't prevent at least 100 people from trying to claim the money as their own. …

$9 billion in unclaimed funds – News 10NBC

$9 billion in unclaimed funds News 10NBC, NY - Jul 31, 2008 State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said, "New York has $9 billion in unclaimed fund accounts. We want to return this money to its rightful owners. … Does the state owe you money? MPNnow.com all 2 news articles