An increasing number of States are becoming more aggressive about taking control of unclaimed property in order to fill budget gaps. There are currently skirmishes breaking out between state governments and companies that have their own interests in holding onto the unclaimed property with the companies accusing the states of overreaching. Recently activists have been calling on states to invest more money into tracking down the rightful owners of unclaimed assets. Currently State governments have about $41.7 billion in unclaimed assets on the books. A growing number of states have been shortening the period of time that assets are held before being classified as abandoned. There are many that call the seizure of unclaimed property a “stealth tax” on the property owners that are not aware of the existence of the property.
See Adam Geller, States are using unclaimed property to patch budgets, Times News LLC, October 19, 2015.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
