A recent report by the Chattanooga Times announced that millions of dollars in GA lottery winnings go unclaimed in GA and TN. Lottery officials say this is primarily caused by people that buy lottery tickets while they are driving through and forget to see if they have won or not.
According to another news report though, a larger amount of Georgia unclaimed money is being held by the State Treasurer’s Department. Hundreds of millions of dollars in abandoned assets are held by the state gov. and most residents are not aware that it’s out there. Catherine Westbrook, an elderly resident of the state was very aware though and became frustrated when she attempted to get a twelve hundred dollar check from a forgotten life insurance policy. “When I didn’t get it for two or three weeks, then I called and they would say, ‘No, the check wasn’t written, hasn’t been written’ — that’s all they would tell me.”, said Westbrook who, after receiving her check five months later, adds: “I don’t know why they take so long to write a check.”
GA’s Unclaimed Property Law or escheat law (which originates from feudal laws in Great Britain) states that forgotten and abandoned properties such as income tax refunds, bank accounts, uncollected wages, cash dividends on stocks and mineral deposits, uncashed checks, gift certificates, insurance premium overpayments, and others have to be handed over to the state after a specified ‘dormancy period’. This period for GA is between 1 and 5 years for unclaimed financial assets. “Dormant funds are remitted to the State of Georgia. Demand deposit accounts are deemed to be dormant after 12 months and time and savings accounts are deemed to be dormant after a period of five years without activity”, according to an official statement from Georgia’s State Treasurer’s. In a press release from the GA Department of Revenue’s Unclaimed Funds Unit, “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.”
The GA Revenue Commissioner has recently attempted to make some improvements in the way that the state department that handles missing cash in GA, like replacing an old automated call center system with operators who can check the status of claims immediately. Tim Shields, a manager with the revenue department, “From the time the claim form comes in the door, if we have everything we need, within 8 to 10 weeks, that person’s going to receive a check,”.
Greg Daugherty, Executive Editor of Consumer Reports, said “When I entered my own information, I didn’t find anything belonging to me, but I did find some money belonging to a great aunt of mine who has since died, and would have left it to me.” Greg is not alone, which is why utilizing the help of an unclaimed property expert is of the extremely important.
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Compensation for children unclaimed
Children who had a part of the compensation payments made on behalf of their parents who suffered accidental deaths while on official duty between 1982 to 1992, deposited in their name at that time have been requested to come forward and claim their money as they have now reached majority age.
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