Senator Brownsberger would like residents of his district to know that Treasurer Steven Grossman has an active Unclaimed Property Division with the mission of reuniting rightful owners with their unclaimed property. In the past year the Treasury was able to return over $76 million to 35,000 residents, businesses and charities in the Commonwealth.
Unclaimed property (sometimes referred to as abandoned) refers to accounts in financial institutions and companies that have had no activity generated or contact with the owner for one year or a longer period. Common forms of unclaimed property include savings or checking accounts, stocks, uncashed dividends or payroll checks, refunds, traveler’s checks, trust distributions, unredeemed money orders or gift certificates (in some states), insurance payments or refunds and life insurance policies, annuities, certificates of deposit, customer overpayments, utility security deposits, mineral royalty payments, and contents of safe deposit boxes. State statute protects these funds from reverting back to the company if you have lost contact with them.
The Unclaimed Property Division has a web site, findmassmoney.com, where residents can search for property. Everyone is encouraged to check the site; you can easily see if you or your family has any unclaimed property. The Treasurer recommends searching for yourself, a spouse, children, deceased grandparents and relatives. You can even search for friends.
The site also allows you to go ahead and make a claim if indeed you do have unclaimed property.
Barbara Miranda, Chief of Staff to Senator Brownsberger