Abandoned Property

Tangible or intangible property for which there has been no activity or for which the Holder of the property has lost contact with the rightful owner after a significant period of time. Various states and government agencies have programs to return these funds to the rightful owners.

Claimant

An entity or individual claiming to be the rightful owner of the unclaimed property. Or if the original rightful owner has deceased, an heir may become the lawful claimant.

Custodian

An individual or entity that holds property until it is delivered to the rightful owner. Most states' laws make the State the "custodian" of the abandoned property. However there are exceptions.

Demutualization

A demutualization is the conversion of a mutual insurance company, that is owned by its policyholders, into a stock company, that is owned by shareholders. The insurance company continues to exist, but its corporate formation and ownership are altered. Eligible policyholders exchange their ownership rights in the mutual life insurance company for common shares of the new company, cash, policy enhancements and rights consistent with those of a typical publicly-owned company. Your policy rights are not affected. You still retain your policy and its associated "contract" rights. Demutualization does not affect your policy benefits or affect your policy premiums.

Dormancy Period

The obligation of Holders to report and remit unclaimed property is triggered when there has been no owner-generated activity for a state-defined period of time. This period of inactivity is referred to as a "dormancy period." Each state is involved in unclaimed property as a service to the citizens of its state, so that there is a single place to look for forgotten funds. The state also makes an effort to locate owners and/or heirs, and guarantees that this money will be held forever until claimed by the rightful owner or heir.

Escheat

When the property is transferred to a state or government agency, making the state or agency the legal custodian of the funds until the owner or heir comes forth to claim. The property or money was delivered to the government agency because the owner, distributee, devisee, or heir could not be found, or refused to accept the property.

Holder of unclaimed property

A corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, association, society, fraternal or mutual benefit organization or other entity, whether or not operated for profit, that maintain account balances, write checks, or hold funds in escrow for another person or persons.

By State law, if the the holder loses contact with the owner of the property due to owner 'inactivity' for a specific period of time and its efforts to re-establish contact with the owner is unsuccessful, the holder is required to transfer the property to the state or other government agency.

Heir Locator or Asset Finder

A paid, professional finder is someone who is in the business of trying to find and assist the owners of unclaimed funds. In most States, if you do choose to use a finder, a full disclosure contract must be signed between the finder and the owner and must specify where the money is, what the money represents, the amount of the funds, the finder's fee (no more than X%, as provided by that State's statute), and how much the owner receives after the fee.

Additionally, the contract must be included with your claim form. In order for a finder to accept a fee, the funds must be in the Division of Unclaimed Funds' custody for a minimum of twenty-four months. Most States require the paid, professional finders to provide specific information in order for the contract to be valid. Also many States are requiring the Heir Locator to be licensed to do business within their State.

Intagible Property

An intangible asset that is not physical. May refer to an investment, such as stocks and bonds or a bank account. These are the common types of unclaimed property which become abandoned or lost by the owner and are eventually transferred to a government agency and held until the owner or his heir can be found and files a claim to recover.Typically the only lost tangible property that is transferred to a government agency might be the physical contents of a safe deposit box ie) jewelry, books gems etc.

Reciprocal Agreement

A number of states have entered into reciprocal agreements. The intent being to simplify holder reporting. A reciprocal agreement provides for holders to file unclaimed property reports for many states through one agent state. A holder reporting to an agent state may file in the agent state's format. As an unclaimed property holder, you may report property whose owner's addresses are in any of the states with which a State has reciprocity agreements.

Tangible Property

Real estate, cars, boats, fixtures and even animals that may be abandoned but are not generally applicable to the unclaimed property statutes and are neither transferred to nor held in State's Unclaimed Property Division. The only tangible property that is transferred to the States are the contents of a financial institution's safe deposit box when the safe deposit box has been abandoned.

Voluntary Compliance

A program that allows financial institutions, businesses, government agencies and other entities to turn over unclaimed property to all participating states without the fear of penalties or interest. The Voluntary Compliance Program is an attempt to alleviate the reluctance of Holders to report their abandoned assets.

Warrants

Checks issued by the State or other government agencies to its employees or vendors working for the government agency. Often these checks go uncashed. Since these unclaimed funds have a specific time period in which they can be claimed, most States do not include or are not permitted by law to list these in their Unclaimed Property Division online database.Often these unclaimed 'warrants' can be found in other databases. These other 'little known' online databases are available to members of our service.