Sen. Dana Dow, R-Lincoln, announced on Wednesday, Feb. 22 the addition of more than $11 million to Maine’s Unclaimed Property Fund. This property consists of financial assets that have gone unclaimed by their owners. The last-known owner’s information is now available at maine.gov/unclaimed.
Unclaimed property consists of cash and other financial assets that are considered lost or abandoned when an owner cannot be located after a specified period of time. It includes, among other items, checking accounts, crtificates of deposit, overpayments, gift certificates, paid-up life insurance policies, unpaid wages, uncashed checks, death benefits, dividends, insurance payments, refunds, savings accounts, stocks, and contents of safe deposit boxes.
“It only takes a few minutes to see if your name is on the list,” Dow said. “In many cases, the money has been sitting there, unclaimed, for years. The only way to find out if some of it is yours is to go to the website. So I would encourage everyone to check it out.”
Millions of dollars are turned over annually to the State Treasurer by entities that cannot locate the owners. If one’s name is on the list, one can file a claim electronically at maine.gov/upsearch. One does not need to pay anyone to file a claim, as filing a claim is both easy and free.
