By law, financial assets are considered dormant or abandoned when contact with the owner is lost – typically due to a name change after marriage or divorce, an unreported address change or the expiration of a postal forwarding order, because of incomplete or illegible records, and most commonly after an untimely death.
Over $58 billion dollars in unclaimed funds and lost or forgotten assets has been remitted by banks, life insurance companies, stock brokers, courts, employers and public companies in accordance with unclaimed property statutes. Only a small fraction of this money has been reclaimed by owners, heirs and beneficiaries.
Family members often are unaware they’re eligible to collect unclaimed cash, refunds and benefits owed deceased relatives who passed on without an updated will. A large number of life insurance policies and retirement accounts go unclaimed every year, because it’s up to heirs to notify insurance companies and pension plan administrators of death; little effort is made to track down lost heirs and missing beneficiaries.
If you have lost track of funds over the years, or have reason to believe a family member may have had assets that have gone unclaimed, complete the form below to initiate a search:
