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Lost-Money — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:03:33 CST

People all over the US have been finding lost money. No, I'm not talking about stolen loot left behind by panicked bank thieves or anything like that. People and companies are being reunited with unclaimed money actually owed them by the government. This is good news for those of us looking to get some extra money in our hands early this year in time for Valentine's Day.

Missouri State Treasurer Sara Steelman is checking her list and giving-back lost money from Missouri unclaimed property belonging to her state's residents. A yearly average of $60 million is turned-over to the Missouri Unclaimed Property Division.

Whenever people move to another residence or get new new jobs, they sometimes forget to leave a forwarding address- losing track of lost financial assets like mailed tax returns or salary checks, lost money orders and such. The IRS or businesses holding them are required by escheat laws to be turned-over to the government after a specific 'dormancy period' which varies per state.
According to the Unclaimed Property Division in the state of Georgia, “The time that must elapse for property to be determined “abandoned” and turned over to the state varies depending on the type of property. For example, unclaimed wages and company liquidation proceeds must be turned over to the state after one year. The vast majority of unclaimed property must be turned over to the state five years after the last contact with the rightful owner. Time frames for other types of property are: safe deposit box contents must be forwarded to the state two years after the box was opened by the holding financial institution; money orders seven years after the issue date; and traveler’s checks 15 years from the issue date.”

Citizens can do a search for unclaimed money by making use of their state's unclaimed property database. It's a good idea, especially if they've lived in several states to check the databases in all those states. Checking if your name is in the list of owners of unclaimed property is can be as simple as typing-in your name and SSS number in a search box. Although there are some national unclaimed money databases, a single centralized government database does not exist so claiming your lost money can be quite tricky.

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