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Guide and resources:
Missouri Unclaimed Property
The Office of State Treasurer Sarah Steelman administers the Unclaimed Property Division, the state’s largest lost and found. The state currently is holding more than $200 million in unclaimed assets. Each year financial institutions, businesses, government agencies and other organizations turn over millions of additional dollars and the contents of nearly 500 safe deposit boxes to the Missouri Unclaimed Property Division. Statistically, one of every 10 Missourians has assets being held by the state's Unclaimed Property Division.
State Treasurer Steelman and the staff of the Unclaimed Property Division use a variety of resources to assist in finding the original owners or rightful heirs of unclaimed property. The Unclaimed Property Division maintains unclaimed funds in trust for the rightful owners or their legal heirs forever. Unclaimed property never becomes the property of the State of Missouri.
The Missouri Unclaimed Property Division holds the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes for at least one year upon receipt. Silver bars, false teeth, diamond rings, cremated remains, letters signed by Abraham Lincoln and many other treasures have been discovered when opening abandoned safe deposit boxes.
What is unclaimed property?
Unclaimed property consists of cash from bank accounts, stocks, bonds, and contents of safe deposit boxes that have been abandoned - that is, for which there have been no documented transactions or contact with the owners in five or more years. Other types of unclaimed property include uncollected insurance policy proceeds, government refunds, utility deposits and wages from past jobs. The Unclaimed Property Division does not handle real property such as land, houses, cars and boats.
"What kind of funds become unclaimed?"
Savings Accounts
Checking Accounts
Uncashed Checks
Telephone/Utility Deposits
Rental Security Deposits
Wages
Insurance Benefits / Policies
Safe Deposit Box Contents
Mortgage Insurance Refunds
Stocks and Dividends
Mutual Funds
Certificates of Deposit
Trust Funds
Estate Proceeds
How does the state get the property?
State law requires financial institutions, insurance companies, public agencies, and businesses to turn over unclaimed property to the state if they have had no contact with the owners for five or more years. The state's Abandoned Fund Account holds cash property in trust forever. Occasionally, the state auctions off abandoned non-monetary assets of value (jewelry, coins, etc.) from safe deposit boxes, and records the proceeds from their sale in the owner's names so that they or their heirs can claim the proceeds.
Search the Missouri Unclaimed Property Database
Missouri state treasurer:
• www.treasurer.mo.gov/ucp/mainucp.shtml
See:
• Unclaimed
Money
• Colorado Unclaimed Assets
• Missouri unclaimed property
• New York Unclaimed Accounts
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