There are many reasons you might have unclaimed funds (abandoned accounts, uncashed checks, misspelled names, incorrect addresses, misplaced inheritance and trusts, etc), and your state is required to hold your property until you claim it.
They will not seek you out, and most people are completely unaware they may have lost funds or property being held by the state.
Every state has an official (.gov) website where you can check whether you have unclaimed property and submit a claim. Just search ‘[my state] unclaimed property’.
e: make sure you go to the official state website; I just noticed some state search top results aren’t the official (.gov) website.
e2: also, check every state you’ve lived in. Moving state is one of the major reasons this happens, and your unclaimed funds will not move to a new state with you.
e3: if you find unclaimed funds, please comment! I’m fascinated to know, no matter how large or small.
I got contacted by a bunch of law firms offering to help me reclaim a bunch of money in the form of abandoned stock shares. How they ended up in the custody of the state is somewhat unknown to me, though I have a theory (which I won’t share). It was a life-changing amount. I wouldn’t be leading the life that I do today if that cash hadn’t dug me out of a whole years ago.
There are laws requiring abandoned property to be turned over to the owner’s state of residence after a set amount of time, which is how it ends up in the state’s unclaimed property holdings. There are no laws requiring the owner to be notified their property is there, though – you have to request it.
If it’s a substantial amount, lawyers have an incentive to seek you out, but for most people, it won’t be worth an outsider’s effort. It’s easy enough to claim, anyhow, so most people can just file the claim themselves.
Glad you found a life-changing amount! That’s awesome.
Thank you! I was on the edge of having to radically change my life by moving. I would have never met one of my closest friends or my partner. Life really is about luck sometimes.