California Holds the Most in Unclaimed Property
According to the California unclaimed property Law, the unclaimed funds holders, or the financial institutions, are required to report annually to the Controller’s Office to pass on the authority of the properties that are lying dormant under them for more than three years. The main sources of California unclaimed money are inactive bank accounts and businesses that are no longer functioning as the owners have changed their addresses or are no longer alive.
The unclaimed property law enacted by California was a relief for those who fear the misuse of their property as the same law forbids any other party from using the money. The law also creates a central database for the citizens to search their property easily without wasting much time.
The state treasuries are taking up required initiatives to educate the people and encourage them to come and claim what they believe is theirs. The state agencies who manage these unclaimed funds are facing the heat as the pile is growing at an alarming rate much more than the returning rate. The state is also utilizing the properties that have been inactive for a longer period on different social causes. California boasts of $246 million dollars that it claims to have returned to the rightful owners in the previous year.
People can visit the official website of the controller that is www.ClaimIt.ca.gov, which offers the owners to search for California unclaimed money and to download claim form along with the instructions for the procedures. The state treasuries believe that the law, along with certain state initiatives like sending notices to the owners will yield results very soon. In the fiscal year 2009 to 2010, about 1.4 million notices sent under the administration of John Chiang (Controller’s Office).
California has one of the largest unclaimed money pools. California is in the news now all because of the wrong reasons and primarily because of its increasing vault of unclaimed property. The state treasury here claims to be the largest in the world, which is around $6 billion dollars when it comes to unclaimed money, which is still waiting for its rightful owners.
