The purpose of state unclaimed property laws and why they exist are mainly for three reasons.
The first reason is to protect the interests and property rights of the lost/rightful owner;
The second is to ensure that any economic windfalls benefit the public and not the individual holder/company;
The third is to relieve the holder/company from the expense and liability associated with the property and the property owner only has one place to look to reclaim it.
Please note, all states, but a couple, ever take full ownership of the property, and that is only after a certain number of years has elapsed.
With proof, the true owner or the heirs can always reclaim the property from the state for eternity. In a nutshell, most states are considered custodial in nature when it comes to the state unclaimed property laws.
As mentioned above, most of the states are known as “custodial states” meaning they never take full possession of any unclaimed property reported to them.
The states only take possession of this property until the actual property owner comes forward and lays claim to it.
On average, the true owner only claims this property in the state’s possession less than 20% of the time. So, there is plenty of property within the states to payout claims.
For the property that is not claimed by the owner, some states invest it and earn the interest (and take possession) of it.
Other states use the funds for road projects, to build new schools, parks and playgrounds. While others fund various state projects like funding for homelessness or hunger or even snow removal.
So, when it’s said a state’s residents should benefit from unclaimed property and not the corporations, there’s proof the states are holding true to this.
For further information and questions regarding compliance with these state unclaimed property laws, please contact a professional at PEACC.com at 410.303.5510, or email us at info@peacc.com
