Listening to "Good Morning America" has put what will soon total more than $5,000 into my family's pockets.
While listening to a segment on found money a few summers ago, I learned about the unclaimed property fund maintained by each of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and some parts of Canada.
According to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, "unclaimed property refers to accounts in financial institutions and companies that have had no activity generated or contact with the owner for one year or a longer period.
Common forms of unclaimed property include savings or checking accounts, stocks, uncashed dividends or payroll checks, refunds, traveler's checks, trust distributions, unredeemed money orders or gift certificates, insurance payments or refunds and life insurance policies, annuities, certificates of deposit, customer overpayments, utility security deposits, mineral royalty payments, and contents of safe deposit boxes."
Unclaimed-property laws have been around since the 1940s, but have become much broader and more stringently enforced in the past 15 years. The NAUPA says $1.754 billion in funds was returned to its rightful owners in 2006, and at least $32.877 billion is currently being held by states.
Researching on the Internet
Following the instructions provided on "Good Morning America," I went to the New Jersey Division of Taxation website, where a link to "Unclaimed Property" eventually took me to a search. I did a search for "Flach" and found results for Robert Flach (my father, not me) and Theodore Flach (my father's brother, who had passed away in 1991).I submitted two Unclaimed Property Claim Inquiry Forms, providing copies of the required identification information.
Within a month, I received a response to the inquiry for my father that included an unclaimed property declaration/release, an indemnification agreement and a listing of the property, which consisted of shares of MetLife and resulting dividends. As requested, I submitted a completed, signed and notarized declaration/agreement, a copy of a driver's license or other federal or state-issued identification card and verification of the Social Security number. In about four weeks, a check arrived for close to $2,200! The shares of MetLife stock had been sold by the state and we got the cash, plus the unclaimed dividends and some interest.
A week later I received a similar package for my uncle's claim. Because he was deceased, I had to provide different kinds of documentation. Eventually a check for more than $2,300, also the result of the liquidation of shares of MetLife, was received. But the story continues.
Continued: His mother's insurance policy
