What Types of Property are Remitted to the State?
Anyone holding abandoned property must remit it to the State when they have held the property for longer than the holding period.
Companies must report abandoned property to the State of the last known address of the owner. When the owner address information is unknown, incomplete or foreign, the holder company reports unclaimed property to their state of incorporation.
The Act provides for the remittance of property and funds in the possession of the holder which are owned by another from:
In addition to money and securities, the Georgia holdings include tangible property such as watches, jewelry, coins, currency, stamps, historical items and other miscellaneous articles.
Each year millions of dollars in dormant or lost accounts go unclaimed. If you know anyone who has ever moved or died, the state may be holding unclaimed cash, lost securities, bonds, refunds, insurance claims, deposits, jewelry or coins. There is no charge to search the state data for anyone's name.
Do not assume that the business has your last known address, in which case the property is supposed to be sent to the state of incorporation of the business. Many times the state of incorporation is Delaware, New Jersey, New York or California.
Another tip that may be helpful is to try various combinations of your name, try putting you first name last and your last name first. Don't forget that you may have assets in your maiden name.
Keep in mind that if someone calls or writes to you and asks that you pay them money for the successful return of your unclaimed property, you probably have some out there somewhere. The folks who are contacting you are called "heir finders." They are not likely to contact you unless they believe that they have found property belonging to you. Heir finders generally charge a fee to locate and help return unclaimed property to you.
