(Part 2 of 2)

One of the main reasons for the government’s inability give back forgotten money to the people it belongs to, according to the government, is the fact that they can not be located. The issue is, who would think people like Angelina Jolie, ZsaZsa Gabor, Gerri Halliwell, Victoria Beckham, Keanu Reeves, Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, Marlon Brando and Jennifer Lopez would be hard to find? Those names and the names of a number of other celebrities are just a few of the names in the CA missing money list but they haven’t heard from the employees at the California Unclaimed Property Division. They are all owed checks for forgotten funds by CA ranging in amount from hundreds to the thousands in Ms. Jolie’s case. This just proves CA state employees’ interest in holding this money in the general fund for them to balance the budget deficits for as long as they can. As a matter of fact, there was a recent ruling by a federal judge on CA abandoned cash, saying that the state was not doing enough to locate the rightful owners and has temporarily halted the state’s s ability to seize it until a new policy of returning it to the rightful owners was enacted.

The total amount of unclaimed money in CA averages five billion dollars annually – imagine how much interest that generates for the state! Bill Palmer, an attorney in Sacramento who has represented a number of cases involving California unclaimed property, said the state’s program was supposed to be a lost and found for residents of California. Instead, it has been turned into a profit making ‘business’ in the past few years.

The ban on the seizure of property by CA has recently been removed and the new California State Controller, John Chiang, is making extra efforts in the form of widespread reforms in improving how his office deals with California unclaimed property. There is still a dire need though for Californians and residents of all other states across the U.S. to learn about the presence of these monies and on how to perform a thorough search for them.

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Uncle Sam may have some money for you (Appeal-Democrat)
About 20 Yuba County residents are being sought by the Internal Revenue Service — so they can get some money back. The folks on a list released Wednesday by the IRS all had addresses for refund checks that apparently didn’t work, with the IRS…

$385M in ‘unclaimed’ fund – News-Sentinel
Even some government agencies have unclaimed money being held by the state. The Bureau of Motor Vehicles, for example, has more than $100 waiting for it. The cash-strapped Capital Improvement Board, which runs Indianapolis’ professional sports …

Missouri’s Largest Lost And Found – KOMU
There’s nothing unusual when you look inside the state treasurer’s office unclaimed property department. In fact, it’s no different than any other office building. Except when you think about how much money it’s giving away. The state treasurer says …

Indiana holding money for Mellencamp, Larry Bird – Republic
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana is holding about $385 million in its unclaimed property fund, some of which belongs to well-known Hoosiers like John Mellencamp and Larry Bird. Indiana Pacers President Bird has $80 in unclaimed cash, while rock star Mellencamp …

75 from the region have unclaimed tax rebates – West Central Tribune
WILLMAR — The Internal Revenue Service is looking for 75 taxpayers in west central Minnesota who have refund checks waiting for them. The checks were returned to the IRS as undeliverable, the agency said in a news release. In Kandiyohi County alone …