Escheatment occurs when someone fails to claim money or other property that is theirs. It happens all the time, in numerous ways: uncashed payroll checks, abandoned safe deposit boxes, dormant bank accounts, unclaimed auto rebates.
According to Gonzalo Llano, administrator of the Michigan Treasury Department’s Unclaimed Property Division, such unclaimed funds are turned over to the state, where they are kept in a central depository. If any of it is yours, it waits there, with your name on it, until you come a-lookin’ for it.
The thing is, even though Llano says the state handled more than 31,000 escheatment claims and returned more than $30 million last year, a lot of people still don’t know that escheatment money exists. Bernard J. Youngblood, Wayne County’s register of deeds, is trying to help by calling attention to a county-sponsored site, www.waynecountylandrecords.com, which allows people to search for unclaimed property without having to navigate the state’s convoluted Web pages.
Wanna see if you’ve got booty in the state’s coffers? Go to the web site, click "Unclaimed Property Search," and type your last name in the box. If you find it, write down the red property number, download and fill out the "Initial Inquiry" form, mail it in to the state and wait for your loot.
Then take 10 percent of that money and send it to News Hits as a sort of finder’s fee. We’ll put the money to good use. We promise.
Contact News Hits at 313-202-8004 or [email protected]
