(Part 1 of 2)

The state of California’s unclaimed funds department takes in approximately three hundred million dollars annually. Why does it matter to you? Well, if you or someone you know is or ever was a resident of the Golden State (or ever had any type of business dealings, whether you knew it or not), some of that big pile of CA unclaimed money might very well be yours!

Under the CA unclaimed property (or escheat) law, missing money such as forgotten savings and checking accounts, cash and stock dividends, mineral deposits, uncashed checks and money orders, state of California unclaimed tax refunds, salary checks, gift certificates, and other financial assets are handed over to the Department of the Treasury if the rightful owners don’t locate them within a certain time period. This ‘dormancy period’ varies from state to state, but in CA it’s 3 years. These unclaimed monies then get moved to the CA unclaimed property division, where they sit in the state’s general fund until they are returned to the rightful owners. This is where state employees in-charge of the CA unclaimed cash were recently criticized. It appears that they were eager to track down and take hold of the lost assets from the various establishments holding on to them but showed less interest in locating the actual owners in the CA unclaimed funds records.

One of the primary reasons for the inability of government give back forgotten money to the people it belongs to, they say, is the fact that they can’t be located. The issue is, would would ever think 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 some of the names in the CA missing money list and yet they haven’t been contacted by the employees at the California Unclaimed Funds Division. They’re all owed checks for unclaimed money by CA ranging in amount from hundreds to the thousands in Ms. Jolie’s case. This proves once again CA state officials’ interest in holding this cash in the general fund for them to balance the budget deficit for as long as they possibly can. As a matter of fact, there was a recent ruling by a judge on CA abandoned money, saying that the state wasn’t trying hard enough to locate the rightful owners and for a while halted the state’s s ability to seize it until a new policy of returning it to the rightful owners was adopted.

(to be continued)

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Unclaimed property: How to search for forgotten money – Bradenton Herald

Unclaimed property: How to search for forgotten money Bradenton Herald,  United States - Sep 15, 2008 DEAR SAVVY SENIOR:Can you tell me how to go about looking for any forgotten funds or unclaimed money left behind by my deceased parents? …

Unclaimed property (Miami Herald)
Q: I received a letter saying that the state is holding unclaimed money for me and that this firm can get me the money for a fee. Is this a scam?

Unclaimed Funds in New York State (WETM 18 Elmira)
WETM 18 News is teaming up with the New York State Comptroller’s office to help you find out if you’re owed any of the state’s nine billion dollars in unclaimed…

70,000 tax rebates unclaimed (Louisville Courier-Journal)
Nearly 70,000 Indiana retirees, disabled veterans and others who normally don’t file tax returns risk losing out on federal rebate checks worth hundreds of dollars if they fail to meet a looming deadline.