(Part 1 of 2)

The California’s unclaimed money department takes in roughly 300 million dollars every year. Why should you care? 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 were aware of it or not), some of that massive pile of California unclaimed money could easily be yours!

Under the California unclaimed property 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 turned over to the Treasury Dept. if their owners don’t locate them within a given time period. This ‘dormancy period’ varies from state to state, but in California it’s three years. These lost assets then head to the CA unclaimed property div, where they sit in the state’s general fund until returned to the rightful owners. This is where state officials who handled California unclaimed cash were recently criticized. It appears that they were all to happy to locate and take hold of the lost funds from the establishments holding them but showed less interest in tracking down the actual owners in the California unclaimed funds database.

(to be continued)

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Deposit box unveils history – Topeka Capital-Journal
Old letters and photographs nestled among a World War II telegram, Purple Heart citation and Gold Star Mother certificate Friday brought to life a tragic moment in Buek family history. If not for research and sleuthing skills of the Kansas treasurer …

Attorney General tours state to draw attention to unclaimed property – Tribune-Star
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State Treasurer has tens of millions of dollars in unclaimed property (Dayton Courier)
State Treasurer Kate Marshall produced an economic stimulus plan of sorts recently, telling legislators that several of them are on a list of Nevadans owed money or other items of value from an unclaimed property account — but they first must file a claim.

Mets fans search for unclaimed money – WABC
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