FRM-RHF.126 Finding Lost Insurance Policies and Other Valuables There is over $32.8 billion in unclaimed money and property in the United States. The Kentucky alone holds more than $150 million in unclaimed property, just waiting to be found by the owners. This cache of money and property comes from banks, insurance companies, stocks, bonds, jewelry, and other properties that are unclaimed or whose owners cannot be located. Also, the IRS has thousands of dollars in unclaimed refunds. Searching for money can be easy and fun if you know what to do. Each state has an office that collects unclaimed property. The Kentucky State Treasurer provides a simple way of searching for lost property. On their Web site, you can type in a name to search their database. If you find a match, you can follow directions provided on the site for completing the necessary paperwork to collect your lost property. If you do not have Internet access, call the State Treasurer s office at (800) 465-4722 to request a search, or send a request in writing to: Kentucky State Treasurer s Office 1050 US Highway 127 South Suite 100 Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 Useful Web sites for tracking down unclaimed property include http://missingmoney.com and http://www.unclaimed.org, run by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA). Both sites provide information free of charge and will connect you to unclaimed property Web sites for each state, as well as national unclaimed property Web sites. Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits Each year, millions of dollars in life insurance policies go uncollected because family members don t know they exist. If you have a family member who bought and paid for life insurance, and you re listed as a beneficiary, you are eligible to receive the benefits any time after their death, even years later! It is possible that your deceased family member had a life insurance policy that has not been collected; but, unfortunately, no national database keeps track of this information and, unless they know the person is deceased, insurance companies are not obligated to turn the money over to the state. The American Council of Life Insurers offers these suggestions for locating lost policies: 1. Go through the deceased s paperwork, including cancelled checks, bank statements, and address books, and look for insurance transactions such as bills paid or received, as well as annual statements. Contact all companies the deceased had insurance with to determine if any of their policies included life insurance coverage. 2. Speak with the deceased s financial advisors. Banks, lawyers, and insurance agents all may be able to provide helpful information. 3. Ask past employers about group insurance the deceased may have purchased. 4. Check the deceased s mail up to a year after his or her death. Often, insurance
companies issue annual statements of coverage or notice of lapsing policies. 5. Review income tax returns for the past two years. The deceased may have paid taxes on interest earned on the policy. 6. Contact all insurance companies in the state in which the deceased resided. You can obtain a list of all companies authorized to do business in a state through that state s Department of Insurance. 7. Due to mergers, name changes, or location changes, insurance companies may be difficult to track down. Best s Insurance Reports, available in most large libraries, provides an annual list of companies, including any name, address, or merger changes. Money Finders At some point, you may receive a letter from someone offering to find lost property for a small fee. These letters and services are not illegal, but you can easily do the same searches yourself, using the Web sites listed above. According to NAUPA, the following are ways a money finder will solicit you: The finder will send you a letter or postcard requesting a fee in exchange for information on your unclaimed property. The company may or may not know if you have unclaimed property, and what you may be buying is a list of agencies that provide the information. This information is available to you, free of charge, through state governments. The finder will notify you of unclaimed property and request a percentage of the funds in return for their services. In most circumstances such as this, the money has not yet been turned over to the state. To handle it yourself, you can: check your papers for any correspondence from the company notifying you of money owed to you, negotiate with the money finders for a lower percentage, pay the money finder what they ask, or wait until the money is handed to the state and claim it yourself. Good luck in your hunt for lost treasures! STATE ADDRESSES Alabama P.O. Box 302520 Montgomery, AL 36130-2520 www.treasury.state.al.us/up/ Alaska P.O. Box 110420 Juneau, AK 99811-0420 http://www.revenue.state.ak.us/trea sury/programs/programs/index.asp x?23050 2 Arizona P.O. Box 29026 Phoenix, AZ 85038-9026 http://www.revenue.state.az.us/bro chure/200.pdf Arkansas Auditor of State 1400 W. 3rd St., Suite 100 Little Rock, AR 72201-1811 http://www.state.ar.us/auditor/unclp rop/ California Division of Collections Bureau of Unclaimed Property P.O. Box 942850 Sacramento, CA 94250-5873 http://www.sco.ca.gov/col/ucp/ Colorado Great Colorado Payback 1580 Logan Street Denver, CO 80203 http://www.colorado.gov/treasury/g cp/ http:/www.colorado.gov/treasury/gc p/ Connecticut Office of State Treasurer 55 Elm Street Hartford, CT 06106 http://www.ctbiglist.com/ Delaware Bureau of Abandoned Property P.O. Box 8931 Wilmington, DE 19899 http://revenue.delaware.gov/inform ation/escheat.shtml District of Columbia Office of Finance & Treasury 810 1st St. NE, Room 401 Washington, DC 20004 http://cfo.dc.gov/cfo/cwp/view,a,132 6,q,590719,.asp
Florida Dept. of Banking & Finance Bureau of Unclaimed Property 101 E. Gaines St., Fletcher Bldg. Tallahassee, FL 32399-0350 http://www.fltreasurehunt.org/index. jsp Georgia Unclaimed Property Program 4245 International Parkway, Suite A Hapeville, Georgia 30354 http://www.etax.dor.ga.gov/ptd/ucp/ index.aspx Guam Treasurer of Guam P.O.Box 884 Agana, GU 96910 Hawaii Dept. of Budget & Finance P.O. Box 150 Honolulu, HI 96810-0150 http://www.ehawaiigov.org/bf/ucp/ht ml/ Idaho Idaho State Tax Commission P.O. Box 36 Boise, ID 83722-2240 http://tax.idaho.gov/ucp_search_ida ho.htm Illinois Dept. of Financial Institutions P.O. Box 19495 Springfield, IL 62794-9496 http://www.cashdash.net/ Indiana Attorney General's Office 402 W. Washington, Ste. C-531 Indianapolis, IN 46204 https://www.indianaunclaimed.com/ apps/ag/ucp/index.html Iowa State Capitol Building Des Moines, IA 50319 http://www.treasurer.state.ia.us/unc laimed/index.cfm Kansas 900 Jackson Suite 201 Topeka, KS 66612-1235 http://www.kansascash.com/prodw eb/up/index.php Kentucky Unclaimed Property Branch State 1050 US Highway 127 South, Suite 100 Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 Toll-free: (800) 465-4722 Fax: (502) 564-4200 http://www.kytreasury.com Louisiana Department of the Treasury P.O. Box 91010 Baton Rouge, LA 70821-9010 http://www.treasury.state.la.us/ Maine Abandoned Property Division 39 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333-0039 http://www.maine.gov/treasurer/unc laimed_property/ Maryland 301 W. Preston Street Baltimore, MD 21201-2385 Massachusetts Abandoned Property Division 1 Ashburton Place, 12th Floor Boston, MA 02108 http://abpweb.tre.state.ma.us/abp/a bp.htm Michigan P.O. Box 30756 Lansing, MI 48922 http://www.michigan.gov/treasury/0,1607,7-121-44435---,00.html Minnesota 133 East 7 th Street St. Paul, MN 55101 http://www.state.mn.us/portal/mn/js p/content.do?id=- 536881373&agency=Commerce Mississippi P.O. Box 138 Jackson, MS 39205-0138 http://www.treasury.state.ms.us/un claimed/ Missouri P.O. Box 1272 Jefferson City, MO 65102-1272 http://www.showmemoney.com Montana Mitchell Building Helena, MT 59620 http://mt.gov/revenue/programsand services/unclaimedproperty.asp Nebraska P.O. Box 94788 Lincoln, NE 68509 http://www.treasurer.state.ne.us/up/ index.asp Nevada Department of Business & Industry 2501 East Sahara Ave., Ste. 304 Las Vegas, NV 89104 http://nevadatreasurer.gov/ 3
New Hampshire 25 Capitol Street, Room 205 Concord, NH 03301 http://www.nh.gov/treasury/division s/ap/apfaq.htm New Jersey Department of the Treasury Unclaimed Property P.O. Box 214 Trenton, NJ 08695-0214 http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxa tion/index.html?updiscl.htm%7emai nframe New Mexico Taxation & Revenue Department P.O. Box 25123 Santa Fe, NM 87504-5123 https://ec3.state.nm.us/ucp/ New York State Comptroller Office of Unclaimed Funds 110 State Street Alfred E. Smith Bldg., 9th Floor Albany, NY 12236 http://www.osc.state.ny.us/ouf/inde x.htm North Carolina Department of State Treasurer Escheat & Unclaimed Property 325 North Salisbury Street Raleigh, NC 27603-1385 http://www.nctreasurer.com/dstho me/adminservices/unclaimedprop erty/default.htm North Dakota State Land Department P.O. Box 5523 Bismarck, ND 58506-5523 http://www.land.nd.gov/ Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Unclaimed Funds 77 South High Street - 20th FL Columbus, OH 43266-0545 http://www.com.ohio.gov/unfd/ Oklahoma Oklahoma State Treasurer 4545 N. Lincoln Blvd., Ste. 106 Oklahoma City, OK 73105-3413 http://www.ok.gov/treasurer/index.h tml Oregon Division of State Lands 775 Summer Street NE, Suite100 Salem, OR 97310 http://www.oregonstatelands.us/ds L/UP/index.shtml Pennsylvania P.O. Box 1837 Harrisburg, PA 17105-1837 http://www.patreasury.org/aboutup.htm Puerto Rico Office of Financial Affairs Fernandez Jurcus Station P.O.Box 11855 San Juan, PR 00910-3855 http://www.ocif.gobierno.pr/unclaim edeng/unclaimedmain.aspx Rhode Island P.O. Box 1435 Providence, RI 02901-1435 http://www.treasury.ri.gov/unclaime dproperty/ South Carolina Office of the State Treasurer PO Box 11778 Columbia, SC 29211-1778 http://treasurer.sc.gov/palm_payb_ prog_uncla_prop/search_unclaim_ property.htm South Dakota 500 East Capitol Ave. Pierre, SD 57501-5070 http://www.sdtreasurer.com/default. asp?page=unclaimed_property 4 Tennessee Andrew Jackson Bldg., 9th Floor Nashville, TN 37243-0242 http://www.treasury.state.tn.us/uncl aim/ Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts P.O. Box 12019 Austin, TX 78711-2019 http://www.window.state.tx.us/up/g eneralinfo.html Utah 341 South Main St., 5th Floor Salt Lake City, UT 84111 http://www.treasurer.state.ut.us/ Vermont 133 State Street Montpelier, VT 05633-0001 http://www.vermonttreasurer.gov/u nclaimed/index.html Virginia P.O. Box 2478 Richmond, VA 23207-2478 http://www.trs.virginia.gov/ucp/ucp. asp Virgin Islands US Virgin Islands Office of the Lieutenant Governor Hon. Gerard Luz James II St. Thomas, VI 00802 Washington P.O. Box 448 Olympia, WA 98507-0448 http://ucp.dor.wa.gov/
West Virginia Office of State Treasurer One Players Club Drive Charleston, WV 25311 http://www.wvtreasury.com/ Wisconsin P.O. Box 2114 Madison, WI 53701-2114 http://www.ost.state.wi.us Wyoming Office of the State Treasurer 2515 Warren Avenue, Suite 502 Cheyenne, WY 82002 http://www.wywindfall.gov References and Resources American Council of Life Insurers 101 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20001-2133 (202) 624-2000 Missing Policy Inquiry National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (Internet only) www.unclaimed.org About Finders Missing Money (Internet only) www.missingmoney.com Kentucky http://www.kytreasury.com/about/ Robert H. Flashman, Ph.D. Extension Specialist for Family Resource Management Linda Klos, M.S. Former Student in Family Studies Claire Kimberly, B.S. Graduate student, Family Studies November 2003; revised January 2010 Copyright 2010 for materials developed by University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension. This publication may be reproduced in portions or its entirety for educational or nonprofit purposes only. Permitted users shall give credit to the author(s) and include this copyright notice. Educational programs of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability, or national origin. 5