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For Your Information
Government agencies are holding tens of billions of dollars in unclaimed funds. Each year states collect billions of dollars in unclaimed or abandoned funds in a process known as escheat. Some states return as little as 5% of the funds they collect to the rightful owners. (See attached Wall Street Journal article)
Assets are considered unclaimed in the eyes of the law when contact with the owner is lost - typically due to a name change after marriage or divorce, an unreported change of address or expired postal forwarding order, incomplete or illegible records, and clerical errors.
When owners fail to communicate an interest in an asset over a specified number of years known as the dormancy period, those left holding unclaimed assets: banks, stock brokers and transfer agents, utilities, employers and life insurance companies - remit the funds to the protective custody of a government trust account in a legal process known as escheat.