Unclaimed Property specialists will be at the Madison County Fair to help Nebraskans search and file claims for unclaimed property, State Treasurer Don Stenberg said today. More than $616,000 in unclaimed property is available for Madison County residents and former residents to claim through the State Treasurer’s Office.
State Treasurer Stenberg said this is the first time in several years that Unclaimed Property specialists from the Treasurer’s Office have staffed a booth at the Madison County Fair. The booth is in space No. 2 in the Commercial Building.
“We want to make sure Nebraskans across the state are aware of the millions of dollars of unclaimed property being held by the Treasurer’s Office and how easy it is for rightful owners or heirs to file claims,” said Treasurer Stenberg. “We are holding more than $100 million of property for more than 350,000 Nebraskans or former Nebraskans or heirs. Given those statistics, you have a one in five chance of finding property that belongs to you.”
Treasurer Stenberg said, “One of the pleasures of this office is returning money to its rightful owners and hearing the stories of Nebraskans and former Nebraskans who are genuinely grateful, surprised, and sometimes overwhelmed at the amount of money returned to them.”
Unclaimed property consists of cash and other personal assets that are considered lost or abandoned after an owner cannot be located for a specified period of time. The property is turned over to the state by banks, insurance companies, merchants, and other businesses. Among the most common forms of unclaimed property are dividends, dormant accounts, gift certificates, insurance payments, matured CDs, lost IRAs, wages, rebates, stock and mutual funds, utility deposits, and abandoned safe deposit boxes. Unclaimed property does not include land, real estate, vehicles, or tax refunds.
Unclaimed property is held by the state until an owner or heir can be documented; the property is held indefinitely if no owner or heir can be located.
Following are the largest pieces of unclaimed property – with amounts ranging from $3,500 to $10,000 – and whose owners’ last known addresses were in Madison County:
In addition to visiting the Unclaimed Property booth at the fair, Madison County residents can search for unclaimed property using the following methods:
