(Part 1 of 2)

The state of California’s unclaimed funds department takes in about $300 million each year. Why does it matter to you? 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), a chunk of that big pile of California lost assets could easily belong to you!

Under the state of California unclaimed funds law, lost money like 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 assets are passed along to the Treasury Department if the rightful owners don’t locate them within a given time period. This ‘dormancy period’ varies widely from state to state, but in California it’s three years. These abandoned assets then head to the California unclaimed property division, where they sit in the state’s general fund until they are returned to the rightful owners. This is where officials working for the state in-charge of the California unclaimed cash were criticized recently. It appears that they have been all to happy to locate and collect the lost assets from the various establishments holding on to them but showed less interest in locating the owners in the California unclaimed funds database.

(to be continued)

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