Government agencies are holding over $60 billion in unclaimed property and missing money. Financial assets become abandoned in the eyes of the law when contact with the owner is lost - typically due to a name change after marriage or divorce, an unreported change of address, incomplete or illegible records, and clerical errors.

When owners or heirs fail to communicate an interest in an asset over a specified number of years known as the dormancy period, those left holding unclaimed assets: banks, stock brokers and transfer agents, utilities, employers and life insurance companies - remit the funds to the protective custody a government trust account in a legal process known as escheat.

Here it awaits your claim, along with billions of unclaimed dollars held by government agencies themselves, including the IRS (tax refunds); Bureau of Public Debt (savings bonds); Social Security Administration (benefit checks); HUD (mortgage refunds); PBGC (pension benefits); VA (life insurance and veteran benefits); USPS (money orders); Bankruptcy Courts (creditor payments); RRB (railroad retirement); BIA (Indian Trust Funds); FDIC (bank accounts); NCUA (credit union accounts) and others.

► It's important to note that in addition to those that have neglected to claim assets to which they are directly entitled, millions of family members are unaware they’re eligible to collect unclaimed assets owed deceased relatives, who passed on without leaving an updated will or complete financial road map for their heirs.

More than one-quarter of all life insurance policies go unclaimed, for example, because it is up to family members to notify the insurance company when a policyholder dies, and virtually no effort is made to find lost beneficiaries.

Click binoculars to search