(Part 1 of 2)

The state of California’s unclaimed property program takes in about $300 million each year. Why does it matter to you? 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), a chunk of that big heap of CA missing money could easily be yours!

Under the CA unclaimed funds law, lost money like forgotten checking and savings accounts, uncashed checks and money orders, mineral deposits, salary checks, cash and stock dividends, state of California unclaimed tax refunds, gift certificates, and other financial assets are turned over to the Treasury Department if the rightful owners don’t locate them within a given period. This ‘dormancy period’ varies widely from state to state, but in CA it’s three years. These abandoned assets then go to the California unclaimed property division, where they wait in the state’s general fund until they are returned to the people they truly belong to. This is where state officials in-charge of the CA unclaimed cash were recently criticized. Seems that they were eager to locate and take hold of the lost assets from the various establishments holding them but showed less interest in contacting the actual owners in the CA unclaimed funds list.

One of the primary reasons for the inability of government give back forgotten cash to residents, according to the government, is that they cannot be tracked down. The problem 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 could be difficult to locate? Those names and the names of several other celebrities are some of the names in the CA missing money list but they have never been contacted by the officials 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. In fact, there was recently a ruling by a judge on CA abandoned cash, stating that the state was not doing enough 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 was adopted.

(to be continued)

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Loan balm likely for Wino blaze victims – E-pao.net
The total loan amount being envisioned for distribution to the inferno victims is said to be about Rs 2.80 crores, accounted as unclaimed money out of the total sum meant for beneficiaries under the Self Employment Generation Programme (SEGP).

Deadline is April 15 to claim old tax refund – Alexandria Daily Town Talk
Any unclaimed money goes to the Treasury.

Track It! – Mysuncoast.com
This is your public information resource center. Find out how much your neighbor paid for their house. Look up mug shots on the daily arrest record. See if you’ve got money coming to you as unclaimed property. Even see if your airline flight is on …

State Comptroller to come to Collin County, provide insight to helping reclaim lost property (Plano Courier)
According to the Texas Comptroller’s office, one in four Texans has unclaimed property from forgotten bank accounts, uncashed checks, security deposits and utility refunds. In total, Texas is currently holding more than $2 billion in cash and other valuables waiting for the rightful owners to claim.

Study: Pell Grant money often goes unclaimed – Vallejo Times-Herald
Hundreds of thousands of California Community College students are eligible for federal Pell Grants but never apply for them, according to a new study by Institute for College Access and Success. The unclaimed grants leave up to $500 million …