TREASURER MOORE PRESENTS UNCLAIMED PROPERTY CHECK OF NEARLY $168,000 TO FORMER UNION CARBIDE WORKER’S FAMILY
State Treasurer Riley Moore last week presented an unclaimed property check worth nearly $168,000 to the surviving family of a former Union Carbide research director.
Treasurer Moore presented the check totaling $167,924.23 to the estate of the late George O’Connor, who was once a Director of Research and Development at the former Union Carbide Technology Park in South Charleston. The funds were from stocks O’Connor had owned which the family was unable to locate when he died. His daughter Leslie O’Connor accepted the funds on the family’s behalf.
“Many times when families lose a parent or grandparent they have a hard time tracking down all of the cash or other assets in their loved one’s name,” Treasurer Moore said. “That’s why it’s one of my great honors in this Office to be able to reconnect families with the funds left behind by someone they love.”
John Paul Abbott, a State Treasurer’s Office Local Government Specialist, along with the Office’s Unclaimed Property Division, worked to contact the surviving O’Connor family relatives and reconnect them with the funds in George O’Connor’s estate.
Treasurer Moore said his Office’s Unclaimed Property Division has more than 3 million listings valued at more than $300 million. He encouraged everyone to visit www.WVUnclaimedProperty.com today to search and see if the Office has any funds available for you or your family.
What is Unclaimed Property?
Unclaimed property can include financial accounts or items of value in which the owner has not initiated any activity for one year or longer. Common examples include unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts and unused rebate cards. (While the title includes the word “property,” it does not however include real estate.)
West Virginia’s unclaimed property laws protect the public by ensuring money and property owed to them is returned to them, rather than remaining permanently with financial institutions, business associations, governments and other entities. The Treasurer seeks to reunite the unclaimed property, including uncashed paychecks, stocks, or safe deposit box contents, with its owner.
Nationwide, nearly 33 million people in the United States – one in every 10 – are estimated to have unclaimed property available for them to claim.
How Can I Find Unclaimed Property in My Name?
West Virginians searching for lost financial assets can go to www.WVUnclaimedProperty.com to search if their name or business is listed in the database. You can also file a claim or check its status as that website. Individuals can also still visit www.wvtreasury.com, then click on the large Unclaimed Property “Search” button to the right of the page under the heading, “Are We Holding Your Money?,” which will redirect them to the unclaimed property website.
A demonstration of how to use the Unclaimed Property search site is available on the Treasury’s YouTube page, at: https://youtu.be/K09yQ7YNKlE.
To search for lost financial assets outside West Virginia, visit www.MissingMoney.com.