A Ohio news story said claimants are frustrated by months long delays due to growing backlogs. In 2024 Ohio took in $528 million and returned $150 million and in 2025 it took in $649 million and returned $112 million. Leaving a $915 million windfall. Clearly there is enough revenue to fund enough staff to process […]
In O’Connor v Eubanks, an unclaimed property takings and due process case, the Sixth Circuit ruled that Michigan took custody (not title) of O’Connor’s unclaimed accounts under its Unclaimed Property Act and kept the interest those funds earned. The district court, following a Michigan Court of Appeals decision (Kemerer), treated the state as the owner […]
California state Controller Steve Westly on unclaimed property held at the state: it’s regrettable that lawmakers don’t give the controller’s office more resources to return escheated funds to their rightful owners. He continued, “If you were sitting on an extra $4.8 billion in other people’s money, would you be in a hurry to […]
Key Points: Arizona holds nearly $2.8 billion in unclaimed property State agency gives insufficient notice to property owners Arizona law requires only 120 days’ notice before seizing unclaimed property Arizonans could soon get better notice if the state is holding on to their share of nearly $2.8 billion in unclaimed property. […]
COLUMBUS, Ohio— Ohio has become more aggressive than any other state in seizing privately owned unclaimed funds, even as many states are moving to automatically return money to their owners, an analysis has found. Under a controversial new Ohio law currently being challenged in court, the state of Ohio is taking ownership of $1 […]
Ohio residents say they’re waiting months longer than expected for unclaimed funds as the state reports nearly 41,000 pending claims. But lately, his sea of orange and brown has been tinged with a touch of gray as he’s been left waiting nine months for his unclaimed funds case to be processed by the state. […]
LAUREL SPRINGS, N.J. (WPVI) — A South Jersey family says their 7-year-old son’s savings account inexplicably vanished, leaving them scrambling for answers until the money ultimately resurfaced in New Jersey’s unclaimed property system. Sarah Dimarco said she has been stuck in what she called “paperwork purgatory” after discovering her son Finn’s account balance had […]
A criminal hurts you. A judge orders him to pay you restitution. The criminal actually pays. The government gets the money. And you still don’t. Welcome to America’s unclaimed restitution system. I spend a lot of time investigating money that belongs to ordinary Americans but somehow winds up in government hands. California auditors […]
In the quiet shadow of a life lived under many names was a man born near the end of a great war, without a father’s name on any official record. His mother, from a Bavarian town, had met an American traveler studying music abroad; the child was later adopted by him but never fully acknowledged […]