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Unclaimed Money

The answer to the above question is: “Yes”. Each year, money is awarded, bequeathed, refunded, paid back, or generally made available to individuals, and for some reason or another, they do not claim the money. The failure to claim the money may be as simple as the intended recipient had no idea that he or she was entitled to the money, or as complex as they know the money is out there, they just have no idea how to go about proving it is theirs, and they are who they say they are.

Unclaimed money can come from a number of sources. One such source is the Internal Revenue Service. Yes, it’s true. Each year, people become eligible for tax refunds. When the IRS attempts to notify these people, however, they find that for some reason the contact information is wrong, or that the person for some other reason cannot be reached. Although it is true that the IRS has access to a number of databases that can determine a person’s whereabouts, sometimes a person remains unnotified.

Often, unclaimed money comes from a bequeathment, and family members (both immediate and close kin) are not aware of this. When this occurs, the executor of the estate may sometimes place an advertisement in a community or metropolitan newspaper’s “Legal Advertisements/Notices” section informing those people of the bequest.

The placing of the advertisement may be required by state or local laws, or it may be done because the executor truly wants the money to be distributed. Either way, the notification is made in that manner.

(This has actually happened, and in one particular case, the person who actually inherited the money did not himself see the legal notice. Rather, someone else who was just scanning the paper saw the person’s name listed, and showed the notice to the person. Subsequent follow-up revealed that the inheritance was real, and the person who was entitled to his share did receive his funds.)

And, yes, someone who is honest enough to turn a substantial amount of money over to proper law enforcement agencies may be allowed, after a certain time, to file a claim to the money. Different municipalities and States have different rules regarding this, so it will be necessary to check with the authorities in the State in which this has occurred.

Unclaimed money DOES NOT, however, come from the Nigerian widow whose husband left her his millions and she has to get the money out of the country before the corrupt government officials find out about it and take it from her. And, in her quest to ensure that this travesty did not occur, she “just happened” to come upon your e-mail address, and she wants you to have the money.

Neither does unclaimed money come from the package pick-up and delivery company who just happened to have come across a parcel that is addressed to you and for some unknown, unexplained reason did not reach you. Therefore, it is imperative that you provide them with your bank account information so that this unfortunate oversight can be immediately corrected.

Legitimate websites that provide information concerning unclaimed money and explanations as to how to start the claims process are listed below:

http://www.egovernmentaccess.com/TaxRefund.htm

http://unclaimed.org/

There may be others, but both of these are supported by or otherwise maintained or monitored by Federal and State authorities. It would be safe to say that any information obtained from the above-mentioned websites would be legitimate, and the searcher should feel comfortable enough to pursue any claims he or she feels they are entitled to.

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