All the 54 states in the United States of America have laws that are put in place to help individuals and businesses to recover or turn over unclaimed property respectively. The government of NC state government is well equipped to help both individuals and businesses in this regard. This implies that as a rightful resident in North Carolina, you can go to the State treasury department and file a reclaim with the necessary documentation. On the other hand, business organizations are legally obliged to turn over assets to a state where it would go through a dormancy period into escheatment.
What is an Unclaimed property?
Simply put, unclaimed property is an asset that is dormant and has been abandoned by the owner. Reasons for this can range from death to loss of personal belonging or ignorance of the existence and value of the assets- for example insurance benefits. Let us look at a list of some of the common examples of NC unclaimed properties:
- Military benefits
- Mortgage insurance refunds
- Pension benefits
- Income tax refunds
- Court funds
- Savings and Checking accounts
- Proceeds of estates
- Uncashed payroll checks
- Dividends
- Stocks and Bonds
- Forgotten layaway balances
How to Find Unclaimed Property in NC
The North Carolina state department has a website that is designated for aiding to recover unclaimed properties. This site is run by and maintained by the department of the state treasury. The website would give you a guide on how to hunt down lost financial assets and other valuable property. The NC unclaimed property website also references users to MissionMoney.com- an online database that is endorsed by the federal government via the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.
How to File a Missing Property Claim in NC
In North Carolina, the property is regarded as unclaimed if there has not been any documented transaction or contact with the property owners for one to five years. However, this time frame in North Carolina varies based on the unclaimed property type. The moment an unclaimed property is handed over to the state by a business, it is now the duty of the individual to reclaim it from the state.
The state of North Carolina has a very proactive unclaimed property notification system. When you are registering online with the NC official website for the unclaimed property. The NC Department of state treasury allows performing a monthly check of its database against the information keyed in by registrants. When there is a match, they would send a notification via email about the unclaimed property that was found.
The treasury makes up its mind to mail you after a waiting period of 90 days. If the property claim that you filed is denied by the NC treasury department, you can go on to provide additional evidence that supports that you are entitled to the property. The claimant would have to do this “re-filing of claim” in the Superior Court of Wake County, North Carolina.