Vermont Unclaimed Property
Find Out if You Have Unclaimed Money or Stock in Vermont
The Vermont State Treasury is trying to find the owners of 200,000 unclaimed property accounts. One account even has 147 shares of Walt Disney Company stock, which is worth around $5,000! Who could have forgotten about such an asset? If that person has passed on, his or her heir is allowed to make a claim for it.
If you live in Vermont, or have in the past, you could have unclaimed assets in the state. Around one in three people are owed money in the Green Mountain State. To date, there is nearly $50 million in unclaimed funds. All assets are kept safe by the state until the owners or their heirs can claim it. Abandoned stock, such as the aforementioned Walt Disney shares, is sold within one year of being unclaimed. However, the proceeds are still kept for the owner.
As the state works to educate Vermonters about the Unclaimed Property Division, more and more people are coming forward to claim their money. To date, more than $20 million has been paid to owners. Since 2001, at least $1.5 million has been paid out every year. Some years the amount paid has been as high as $6.4 million. However, there are still many more open accounts. The average account is worth $375-$400. For some families in today’s economy, a few hundred dollars can go a long way.
Some of the unclaimed property includes safety deposit boxes. Items such as gold bars, jewelry, repair bill for a sports car, and a Cadbury Egg are just some examples of what the VT State Treasury finds in safety deposit boxes. You may want to do a search to see if any of these belong to you. For all you know, there could be an old family heirloom sitting in the State Treasury!
Other types of unclaimed property include mutual funds, unclaimed security deposits, inactive bank accounts, uncashed checks, unclaimed prize winnings, certificates of deposit, etc. More often than not, the property comes in the form of money. It comes from a variety of sources, including banks, corporations, insurance companies, retailers, and even government agencies. Sometimes it’s money left behind from a deceased individual, whose heirs have yet to come forward.
The state allows individuals to search for their name and address through the Vermont State Treasury site. The database contains information about 200,000 claimable properties. Even if you don’t live in VT anymore, you can still search. If you find that you have some money, you can fill out a claim and mail it in. You can speed the claim process up by making sure you fill out all of the information accurately, and by attaching it to the required documents.
