Louisiana’s Department of the State Treasury has hundreds of millions in unclaimed property from lost assets that residents have abandoned or forgotten about. These assets include uncashed payroll checks, old bank accounts, stocks and stock dividends, royalties, utility deposits, interest payments, insurance proceeds, retirement benefits, and contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes. By law, businesses and organizations are required to turn these over to the state if the rightful owners don’t claim them after a period of 3 to 5 years for most assets. Unclaimed savings bonds make up a huge chunk of the $330 million total Louisiana unclaimed money. John Kennedy, LA State Treasurer, is attempting to reunite matured forgotten United States savings bonds in addition to other types of Louisiana lost property with approximately one in every six of the state’s residents.
In Baton Rouge alone over 80,000 people, owed nearly 27 million dollars, are listed in the Louisiana unclaimed property records. The State Treasurer recently stated, “The state owes Louisiana residents millions of dollars in unclaimed property, and we want to give this money back.” Louisiana’s Unclaimed Property Law requires the State Treasury Department to print names of businesses and individuals who are due money in newspapers throughout the state annually on top of making other efforts to track down the rightful owners. At an “Awareness Day” that was held at the Lakeside Shopping Center, the Louisiana Department of Treasury gave back $133 thousand in unclaimed property owed to residents of New Orleans. “This was one of the largest unclaimed property events we’ve ever had,” said Treasurer Kennedy. “We estimate that we had around 3,000 people in attendance over a five hour period. The average unclaimed property claim is typically around $200 to $400, but one individual at the mall claimed more than $20,000.”
The majority of people do not know about government forgotten funds which is one of the reasons why the total unclaimed property and cash in the United States currently stands at roughly $35 billion. Hard to believe and somewhat ironic, but people also lose track of their assets in their haste to make more of it - especially in the fast paced lifestyles we lead now. Double jobs, skipping from job to job, changing of address or names (due to marriage), retirement, and death can all cause us to lose track of financial assets belonging to us. Mailed checks and financial notices can be sent back to sender if people do not leave behind forwarding addresses (which can happen in emergencies). Disasters such as hurricanes have in the past displaced a number of families, which is sure to cause the already whopping unclaimed property fund in Louisiana to grow larger. Government efforts to reach out to the owners of unclaimed property are already insufficient in giving back all of the 330 million dollars currently in the hands of the state. Residents are encouraged to take matters in to their own hands and perform a search for lost money in Louisiana as well as other states. Louisiana unclaimed property claims for $250 or more have to be notarized, but it’s possible to do a claim online for less than $249. Web searches can be relatively quick and easy - the key is knowing where to look.
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Find Unclaimed Money or Property that Belongs to You [Personal Finance]
# personalfinance The phrase “unclaimed money” may sound like the beginning of any number of spam email you’ve received and deleted, but unclaimed money and property are out there, and finding out whether you’re owed either is just a few web searches away. More
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