(Part 2 of 2)

One of the main reasons for the inability of government to return forgotten cash 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 Jennifer Lopez, Victoria Beckham, Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, Angelina Jolie ,Marlon Brando, Keanu Reeves, ZsaZsa Gabor and Gerri Halliwell would be difficult to track down? Those names and the names of a number of other celebrities are just a few of the names in the CA missing money database but they have never been contacted by the employees at the California Unclaimed Property Division. They are all owed checks for forgotten funds by CA amounting from hundreds to the thousands in Ms. Jolie’s case. This just shows CA state employees’ interest in keeping this money in the general fund for them to balance the budget deficits for as long as they can. In fact, there was a recent ruling by a judge on CA abandoned assets, saying that the state wasn’t trying hard enough to return it to its rightful owners and for a while halted the ability of the state to take and hold it until a better policy of returning it to the actual owners was enacted.

The total dollar amount for these funds in California averages five billion dollars annually – just imagine the amount of interest that earns for the state! Sacramento attorney Bill Palmer who has battled in many cases involving CA unclaimed money, has said that the state’s program was supposed to be a lost and found of sorts for Californians. Sadly, it was turned into a profit generating ‘business’ in the past few years.

The ban on the taking of property by CA has since been removed and the new CA State Controller, John Chiang, is making extra efforts in the form of sweeping reforms in improving how his office deals with California unclaimed money. 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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Combs returns money – Corsicana Daily Sun
Corsicana — Texas Comptroller Susan Combs came to Corsicana Thursday for two purposes, to help promote the state’s unclaimed money program, and to present certificates to local governments that are posting financial information on the Internet …

Comptroller encourages local residents to see if state … – Lufkin Daily News
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs visited Lufkin Wednesday to encourage East Texans to check the state’s Unclaimed Property List and to recognize the city for its open government initiatives. Combs said approximately one in four Texans has money to be …

Wisconsin Residents Find They Have Unclaimed Money – WSAW
Some Marathon County residents are finding out the state of Wisconsin may owe them some money, and they’re learning how to get it. Wisconsin State Treasurer Dawn Marie Sass has been traveling around the state, bringing news that is making some people …