January 12, 2012
Find Unclaimed Property in Wyoming – Part 1 of 2
(Part 1 of 2)
It's no secret that the Rocky Mountains run straight through Wyoming, but there is an even more exciting mountain, of more immediate interest to the less half of a million people living in the Equality State – a mountain of money! Currently, the State Treasury Office holds more than $26 million in Wyoming unclaimed money, and waiting for the rightful owners to come forward and take what technically already belongs to them.
The State Treasury web site names the following as the most common types of assets that can become "unclaimed": credit balances, uncashed insurance claim payments, moneys distributable from trusts, stocks, safe deposit box contents, traveler's checks, money orders, deposits, savings accounts, customer overpayments, refunds, endowments, insurance policies, checking accounts, annuities, uncashed dividends. Each of these types of unclaimed money has its own dormancy period, which is the number of years that must go by before they are considered abandoned and law requires that they're turned over to the state. These dormancy periods vary greatly, but are usually 5 years in Wyoming.
Although Wyoming has given back millions of dollars to the true owners, most of it remains unclaimed, and the primary reasons come down to a lack of awareness about these assets. Luckily, Wyoming is a custodial state, which means they hold these monies forever, and won't ever take possession of them. There is no expiration date on lost money.
As residents the state with the lowest population, citizens living in Wyoming have great chances of locating abandoned assets owed to them. But the majority of people aren't aware that other states may be holding funds owed to them. You do not even have to have been to another state for another state to be holding your assets. Many companies have offices and/or locations in multiple states, but obviously they can only be headquartered in one place. Because of this, employees sometimes lose track of money and not ever realize it even if they search, because the cash is being held by the state where their employer has its headquarters. Similarly, insurance companies often service different states, but like any company they can only have one headquarters. Items like insurance overpayments will be passed along to the proper department in the state where the insurance company is incorporated, which isn't necessarily the state where the insured person lives. These are just a few of the reasons that it's very important that people search outside of their home state.
(to be continued)
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