How California Abandoned Property can Help with Cash Flow

Every company may have some rough spots here and there especially with the downturn of the economy in recent years. Lately, it has been a question of whether the small to medium enterprises in California can actually stay afloat if a regular cash flow would not start coming in. Some experts might propose that searching for the company’s or the owner’s California abandoned property might just do the trick.

There are about 5.7 billion dollars worth of assets belonging to about 11.6 million California residents and organizations that can be claimed through the State’s Unclaimed Property Program. This California abandoned property may be in the form of bank accounts that have gone dormant, abandoned safe deposit box contents, income from stocks, bonds, mutual funds and dividends, utility and security deposits, estates, matured or terminated insurance policies and even escrow account as well as trust funds. According to the California Unclaimed Property Law, these abandoned assets that have been inactive for at least three years will be forwarded to the State Controller’s Office for safekeeping, until the rightful owners claim them.

The purpose of the Unclaimed Property Law is to protect the rightful owners from businesses and companies holding their assets and to ensure that these owners can really claim what is theirs. Now some companies and business owners who suspect that they may have unclaimed assets from insurance companies, banks or inheritance from departed loved ones, attempt to find out if they actually have California abandoned property to be claimed.

The good thing about this law is that businesses and financial institutions are required to report all abandoned properties and non-compliance or even just partial compliance will lead them to a lot of trouble with the State Controller’s Office. This is certainly a good way to monitor unclaimed assets so they may be returned to their rightful owners.

If you suspect that you may have California abandoned property, try to go to the State Controller’s Office website to ask for a claim form. Make sure to include all the necessary documentations when you submit this form. Who knows, this might be the answer to keep your business afloat and survive the harsh economic climate.