Word is that you are trying to wring a few more bucks out of Microsoft for your struggling Web portal.
Maybe this will help: The state of California says you have $3,008.46 worth of unclaimed Microsoft dividend checks coming your way.
Yang isn’t the only billionaire in Silicon Valley who’s got a little unclaimed cash. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs has $465.26 waiting for him from an insurance company. Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin never picked up $1,023.91 earned as a graduate student from Stanford University, in addition to $9.53 worth of dividends from The New York Times Company. Google’s other co-founder, Larry Page, has lost track of $262.26. Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison, who currently tops Forbes’ list of the best compensated executives, can hang onto a little more Oracle stock this year: he’s got $51.43 coming from the U.S. arm of Swiss insurer Zurich.
Of course those amounts are drops in the bucket for these billionaires, but these are exactly the types of unclaimed assets being discovered by average citizens every day. The article goes on to note that these revelations come as California continues it’s attempts to reunite people with $5.3 billion in CA unclaimed cash, which we’ve discussed here a number of times. As law makers continue to salivate of these monies State Controller John Chiang still appears to be on the side of the folks, trying to reconnect 8.7 million Californians (even billionaires) with their share.
The battle for lost assets in California is all the more reason for residents of that state to get moving on their search for missing money. Mr. Chiang can’t do it all, and he’s fighting with politicians who can’t wait to get their hands on your cash, so stop procrastinating and get your unclaimed property search started today.
It was just over a month ago that we pointed out that CA abandoned assets totaled $5.1 billion, but in just a few short weeks the state has added another $200,000 to bring the total to $5.3 billion, and counting, according Mercury News.
California is sitting on $5.3 billion in abandoned property, which it gets to keep until someone claims it. Businesses turn over about $500 million a year to the controller’s office.
And the battle over CA missing money between Cali’s controller, John Chiang, and the state itself, that we’ve discussed in earlier posts, rages on:
It’s not exactly in the state’s interest to work hard at finding the rightful owners, but that’s what Chiang has been doing. He has pushed for reforms to speed up the process, and he even wants the state to pay interest on the money.
Last year the Legislature expanded his authority to track down property owners. Deputy Controller Hallye Jordan said the office has sent out more than a million notices since then, and there have been many happy reunions.
In one case, a safety deposit box sent to the state in 2006 contained several World War II military medals, including the Medal of Honor. The controller was able to track down the war hero’s family and return the medals to them.
Read the rest of the Mercury News article which contains a personal found money story from the author, but the bottom line is that with the fight over CA unclaimed property, relying on the government to get your cash back to you isn’t going to cut it.
It’s time for anyone who might be owed lost assets to step up and get searching for your money today to be sure they find every last penny, and put it back in your own pockets where it belongs!
Time is running out to lay claim to nearly $2 million in unclaimed property held by the State Tax Commission.
Officials say residents have until July 1 to prove ownership to more than $1.8 million of the state’s total $48 million in unclaimed cash, stocks, bonds and other assets.
Sadly, Idaho is one of the few states that has a time limit on claiming ID unclaimed assets:
Idaho takes ownership of property that goes unclaimed for more than 10 years.
Most states act as custodians, meaning they simply hold residents’ missing money indefinitely, until it is claimed. This means that Idahoans should understand the sense of urgency in reclaiming their forgotten funds goes beyond just a personal desire to take them back in a timely manner. The citizens of ID run the risk of forfeiting their unclaimed properties if they don’t learn the right strategies for locating them and claiming them ASAP.
Luckily for those Spud State residents who are new to the abandoned cash game, there are experts in Idaho unclaimed funds who can show them the ropes to jump start their search, and let them know the joys of found money.
According to Wyoming State Treasurer Joe Meyer, the state is currently holding more than $26 million in WY unclaimed money, owed to residents of the state.
A recent Wyoming brief from the Jackson Hole Star Tribune provides details:
State Treasurer Joe Meyer’s office will hold its annual Wyoming Windfall campaign starting Monday in an effort to return $26 million in unclaimed property to its rightful owners.
Wyoming unclaimed money takes a lot of forms, but the article lists a few of the most common:
Most of what the office returns is cash — uncollected wages, uncashed money orders, oil and gas royalties, stocks, bonds and mutual funds.
The article goes on to note that if you’re lucky, you could be in for a massive amount of missing money:
Meyer said the average claim is less than $100, but some have claimed $100,000 or more.
This is all good news for all residents of Wyoming, but you can’t get paid if you’ve never played. The only way to claim unclaimed property is to perform a thorough search using tried and true methods perfected by experienced searchers.
This blog has mentioned the legal mess surrounding California’s unclaimed property program before, but it seems there is no end in sight. After a recent ruling that took the side of people who are owed a share of the CA unclaimed funds, the citizens, and took the position that the state had handled lost assets improperly, lawyers for state politicians rushed to try to stop the bleeding, as this will greatly affect the state’s ability to (wastefully) spend money. Sure, California politicians will always find a way to tax and spend, but they were counting on taking money owed to citizens and blowing it as well.
Attorneys for California’s controller are in court trying to head off a ruling that could cost the state millions of dollars. It all stems from the state’s handling of billions of dollars in unclaimed property, taken from taxpayers without notice.
Generally unclaimed money becomes “unclaimed” because it is difficult to contact the rightful owner for one reason or another, but more often than not it relates to a change of address in one way or another. It is generally recommended that the citizens learn how to search for missing money on their own because the states are simply incompetent when it comes to this matter.
California is in a league of its own!
“In our case, they took 200 shares of GE stock, and sold it. We’ve been at the same address for 34-years, but they couldn’t find us.“
This is NOT an isolated incident, and it is exactly the sort of nonsense that makes it all the more clear that residents of any state, but California especially, need to know how to search for their own forgotten funds if they are truly intent on tracking them down.
California is making desperate moves to prevent people from reuniting with their cash. Don’t let them keep yours! This legal battle is far from over and the only way to ensure you don’t forfeit money owed to you as this drags out, is to locate it yourself and claim it ASAP.
