TK - The following is taken from the California Co
Post# of 96879
Quote:
How Does The State Get Unclaimed Property?
California’s Unclaimed Property Law requires corporations, businesses, associations, financial institutions, and insurance companies (referred to as “Holders”) to annually report and deliver property to the State Controller’s Office after there has been no activity on the account or contact with the owner for a period of time specified in the law—generally three (3) years. Often, contact is lost when the owner forgets that the account exists, or moves and does not leave a forwarding address, or the forwarding order expires. In some cases, the owner dies and the heirs have no knowledge of the property.
And this legal concept is known as Escheating. Seems a very apt term.
Oh, and the 3 years specified is so government beneficial - it used to be 7.
Hope this answers your question.
One final point. Each state has this program with some variation. All of us should check. Start by going to "State name) unclaimed property" on the wweb. I did this last night and found one of my kids can file to recover about $136. Not a lot, but it could buy over 20K of NTEK.