(Part 1 of 2)

The California’s unclaimed funds program takes in approximately $300 million each year. Why should you care? 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 were aware of it or not), some of that big pile of Cali lost assets might easily belong to you!

Under the California unclaimed property 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 turned over to the Department of the Treasury if the rightful owners don’t come for them within a given period. This ‘dormancy period’ varies widely from state to state, but in Cali it is three years. These forgotten funds then head to the California unclaimed property div, 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 Cali 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 on to them but showed less interest in contacting the actual owners in the Cali unclaimed funds database.

One of the main reasons for the government’s inability to return forgotten money to residents, they say, is the fact that they can not be tracked down. The problem is, would would ever think that 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 find? Their names and the names of a number of other famous people are just a few of the names in the Cali missing money database but they have not been contacted by the officials at the California Unclaimed Money Division. They’re all owed checks for unclaimed money by Cali ranging in amount from hundreds to the thousands as in the case of Angelina Jolie. This proves once again Cali state employees’ interest in keeping this cash in the general fund for them to balance the budget deficit for as long as they possibly can. In fact, there was a recent ruling by a federal judge on CA abandoned assets, saying that the state wasn’t making enough of an effort to return it to its rightful owners and for a while halted the state’s s ability to take and hold it until a better policy of returning it to the actual owners was enacted.

(to be continued)

–

Perry axes money for volunteer tax centers – Austin American-Statesman
A bill intended to help working families with their federal income taxes fell victim to Gov. Rick Perry’s veto pen on Friday. House Bill 2888 used about $2.6 million in federal money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to …

Navarre’s homeless ‘Bike Lady’ has untold stories – Pensacola News Journal
Motorists driving up and down U.S. 98 in South Santa Rosa County knew her simply as the Bike Lady. Some would honk and angrily yell at Elizabeth Dawn Allmon, a homeless woman who called Navarre home, as she slowly pedaled a rickety, blue beach bike …

Cash Dash searches for rightful owner of money (WQAD Moline)
Do they have your money? Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias’ office wants to return lost, forgotten and abandoned funds to their rightful owners.

Unclaimed property auction sends money to state school fund (The Gresham Outlook)
Oregon’s Department of State Lands hosts an auction Saturday, June 20, in Salem of unclaimed property. The auction starts at 9:30 a.m. at Parrish Middle School, 802 Capitol St. N.E. A preview is planned Friday, Jun 19, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the school. Doors to Saturday’s auction open at …

Millions of unclaimed funds in Indiana – WTHR
Indianapolis – State officials unveiled millions of dollars that have gone unclaimed in Indiana. Attorney General Greg Zoeller held a press conference Friday to push IndianaUnclaimed.com , the best resource to quickly find out if your name is on the …