(Part 2 of 2)

One of the main reasons for the government’s inability give back forgotten cash to residents, they claim, is the fact that they can’t be located. The issue 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 would be hard to locate? Those names and the names of a number of other celebrities are just a few of the names in the California missing money database and yet they have not been contacted by the officials in the California Unclaimed Property Division. They’re all owed checks for forgotten funds by California ranging in amount from hundreds to the thousands as in the case of Angelina Jolie. This proves once again California state employees’ interest in keeping this money in the general fund for them to balance the budget deficit for as long as they can. In fact, there was recently a ruling by a federal judge on CA abandoned money, stating that the state was not making enough of an effort to locate the rightful owners and has temporarily halted the ability of the state to take and hold it until a proper method of returning it to the actual owners has been adopted.

The total amount of unclaimed money in CA averages five billion dollars annually – imagine how much interest this earns for the state! Bill Palmer, an attorney in Sacramento who has represented numerous cases involving California unclaimed funds, sad that the state’s department was created to be a lost and found for California residents. Instead, it was turned into a profit earning ‘business’ in the past few years.

The hold on the taking 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 changes in improving how his office handles California unclaimed property. There’s still a great 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 and take back what belongs to them.

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Show me the money (Arizona Daily Wildcat)
Cruiser bicycle: $35. Skateboard: $17.50. Thirty gigabyte iPod: $95. Raising over a half-million dollars per year for the university: priceless. The UA Surplus Property Auction, held every other Tuesday, allows people the chance to bid on lost and found items and excess university property.

In Depth: Your Dollars (WSYR 9 Syracuse)
The State of New York is currently holding billions of dollars in unclaimed funds. Some of this money may belong to you! Click inside for complete coverage.

SHOW ME THE MONEY: Unclaimed Property Cash Could Have Your Name On It – ABC6.com
Story Updated: Apr 29, 2009 at 7:17 PM EDT You could have some cash coming your way, currently being held onto by the state. All you have to do is see if you’re on the Unclaimed Property list. ABC6 Reporter Parker Gavigan has more… Comments are …