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You may have family heirlooms handed down from a long-lost relative that you don’t know about. Or, you may have forgotten about a long-unused safe deposit box. If so, any cash, stocks and other valuables should have been sent to the Unclaimed Property program--and they are waiting for you to claim them.

Since 1959, California law has required banks, utility companies and other businesses to send accounts to the state for safekeeping if they haven’t been touched for three years and efforts to contact the owner have failed.

California State Controller John Chiang (D) is working to reform the program, sponsoring a recently enacted law that authorizes the controller’s office to locate and notify owners. AARP has joined with the state controller, the California Broadcasters Association and the California Cable and Telecommunications Association to get $5.4 billion in lost, abandoned or forgotten property back into the hands of its rightful owners.

The new law helped the state locate the heirs of a Navy World War II hero and, in early October, return a Medal of Honor and Navy Cross presented to him for acts of bravery during the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Last year the Unclaimed Property program returned, on average, $1,216 each to more than 276,000 people.

You can search for your lost property at www.sco.ca.gov, or call 1-800-992-4647 to see if the state has property that belongs to you, your family or friends.

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Unclaimed Property Program

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