Want to locate your Ohio unclaimed money?
Most states have adopted escheat laws based on the 1966 version of the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act. A few states have adopted escheat laws (or amended their existing laws) based on the 1981 or 1995 Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. Under the 1995 Uniform Act, tangible as well as intangible property escheats to the state normally within five years, although this time frame can be anywhere from three to seven years. However, § 2(a)(7) of the 1995 Uniform Act provides that gift certificates escheat to the state three years after December 31 of the year the certificate was sold. If the gift certificate can be redeemed for merchandise only, the amount presumed abandoned is valued at 60% of the face value of the certificate. States have slowly begun to amend their escheat statutes to incorporate the shorter escheat period set forth the 1995 Uniform Act.
According to the Ohio Revised Code Chapter 169 accounts are presumed unclaimed if over a specified period of time there has been no activity noticed while the owner of the funds cannot be located by the money holder. Depending on the property type the time may vary, but typically it is 5 years. Unclaimed property then gets trasfered into the state's custody and remains there until reclaimed by the rightful owner or heirs. The Ohio unclaimed money can be in form of savings, checking, certificate of deposit accounts; stocks and bonds (uncashed dividends, interest checks, underlying shares principle); payroll (wages, bonuses, commissions); credit balances; insurance proceeds; customer deposits; travelers checks; money orders.
Ohio Unclaimed Money in 2006 News
The statistics released recently revealed that in the 2005 fiscal year the state of Ohio had paid $53.9 million responding to claims filed by, or in the name of 41,000 current or former Ohio residents or their rightful heirs. Anyway, let not this impress you too much. That was only a small portion of the total $975 million in unclaimed property value held in custody by the state of Ohio.
