(Part 2 of 2)

One of the primary reasons for the inability of government give back forgotten cash to its owners, they claim, is that they can’t be located. The problem is, would would ever think people like Jennifer Lopez, Victoria Beckham, Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, Angelina Jolie ,Marlon Brando, Keanu Reeves, ZsaZsa Gabor and Gerri Halliwell could be hard to locate? Those names and the names of a number of other celebrities are just some of the names in the CA missing money database and yet they have not been contacted by the employees in the California Unclaimed Funds Division. They are all owed checks for lost assets by CA amounting from hundreds to the thousands in Ms. Jolie’s case. This just shows CA state employees’ interest in keeping this money in the general fund for them to balance the budget deficit for as long as they can. As a matter of fact, there was recently a ruling by a judge on CA abandoned cash, saying that the state was not trying hard enough to return it to its rightful owners and for a while halted the state’s s ability to seize it until a new policy of reuniting it with the actual owners was enacted.

The total dollar amount for these funds in California averages five billion dollars annually – just imagine how much interest this earns for the state! Sacramento attorney Bill Palmer who has represented many cases involving California unclaimed money, has said that the state’s department was supposed to be a lost and found for residents of California. Sadly, it was turned into a profit making ‘business’ in the past few years.

The hold on the seizure of property by CA has recently been lifted and the new CA State Controller, John Chiang, is making greater efforts in the form of widespread reforms in improving how his office handles California unclaimed money. There’s still a dire need though for Californians and residents of all other states across the U.S. to learn about the presence of these funds and on how to do a thorough search for them.

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Blakely: New Orleans will use GO Zone money (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
BATON ROUGE — New Orleans’ recovery czar told the State Bond Commission Thursday that the city expects private developments will take full advantage of a special post-hurricane financing method before the program reaches a critical deadline at the end of this year.

Lost property returned in record amounts – The Reporter

Lost property returned in record amounts The Reporter, WI - Jan 2, 2009 Under Wisconsin law, after one to five years of inactivity, Wisconsin businesses are mandated to turn all unclaimed money, stock and safe deposit boxes to …

State looks to return unclaimed property – 2TheAdvocate

KTBS

State looks to return unclaimed property 2TheAdvocate, LA - Dec 23, 2008 By SARAH CHACKO Baton Rouge and other Louisiana residents looking for some extra cash this holiday season should see if they have unclaimed money in the … Unclaimed property could mean help for the holiday WXVT all 12 news articles

Do you have missing money? – WPDE

Do you have missing money? WPDE, SC - Jan 7, 2009 By Jaimie Reda Millions of dollars in unclaimed money has made it's way to the state treasurer's office. The program is better known as the Palmetto Payback …