While it may come as a surprise when you learn that there is money in your name waiting to be claimed by you, without your previous knowledge, it happens to Americans all the time. This can come in the form of cash or property, and is usually held onto by state governments following a brief holding period by the corporations through which the money or property were processed or left.
In the past, this money would go forgotten, being left to sit in government accounts while the proper owner goes on through life, completely oblivious to its existence. But in more recent years, the government has been getting more and more pressure from the public to find the beneficiaries of these lost amounts, and you will find that various government unclaimed money websites are offer the ability to search for your own name for such treasures.
These government unclaimed money can come in the form of tax refunds that were never collected or received by the appropriate party, items or money left in safety deposit boxes, bank accounts that held contents but were left abandoned, stocks, bonds, life insurance money and various other financial belongings.
Finding Your Unclaimed Money:
As mentioned above, a good way to go about locating money that you are owed through the government, if any exists, is to perform a search online. Most experts believe that the best place to start this search is through the official Unclaimed Property Department or UPD of your state. Each state will have its own department which holds its own lists of residents who have yet to claim money owed to them.
You might find that some sites require you to pay a fee in order to gain access to government unclaimed money, while others are free to access the knowledge. Following this, you will need to contact the department and prove your identity in order to claim any money which has been left to you. Remember to use your maiden name, or birth name if you have had a name change throughout the history of your life. This is important as the money may have been left to you before you changed your name.
Claiming Money Which Doesn't Belong To You:
You can input as many names as you like, but this is one situation where finders are not necessarily keepers. Nevertheless, you can seek out lost money that belongs to friends or family members and help them retrieve it. You can also search for relatives who may have passed away to which you could have been considered an heir. For example, you can search out government unclaimed money for a grandparent or great-grandparent, if they have passed on, and you may be able to gain access to those funds through some highly specialized paperwork and government communication.
The website search feature is very easy to use, but be sure to read the instructions and follow them exactly. Some sites require you to place "AND" or "OR" between names, rather than just typing in "John Smith" or something similar to that. Be prepared to spend a few minutes figuring the system out and don't give up after your first search.