(Part 1 of 2)

The California’s unclaimed money program takes in roughly $300 million annually. Why should you care? Well, if you or anyone you know is or ever was a resident of the Golden State (or ever had any type of business dealings, whether you were aware of it or not), part of that massive pile of Cali forgotten funds could very well belong to you!

Under the California unclaimed property law, missing money like 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 financial assets are handed over to the Department of the Treasury if their owners don’t come for them within a certain time period. This ‘dormancy period’ varies from state to state, but in Cali it is three years. These unclaimed monies then get moved to the California unclaimed property div, where they sit in the state’s general fund until returned to their rightful owners. This is where officials working for the state in-charge of the Cali unclaimed cash were recently criticized. Seems that they have been eager to track down and take hold of the lost assets from the establishments holding them but but were less than enthusiastic about contacting the owners in the Cali unclaimed property records.

(to be continued)

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