Unclaimed property in North Carolina is handled through the Dept. of the State Treasurer. If you believe you have unclaimed property waiting for you in the state of North Carolina, you can check their website. On this site, you can type in your name or that of your business and search for any unclaimed property being held.
There are many different types of unclaimed property including bank accounts, deposits, salaries, stocks, insurance payouts and things left in a safe deposit box. In order to claim any amount over $50, you must provide a notarized signature. Most unclaimed property held by the Treasurer has been abandoned for up to five years. The odds are 1:4 that you, as a North Carolina citizen, have unclaimed funds being held for you. You should check to see if you have a claim on part of the $500 million dollar fund. The fund takes the interest that is earned on the money in it and uses it to fund grants, loans, scholarships for North Carolina colleges. About $45 million in lost funds have been returned this past year according to the site.
Once you have accessed the site, enter your name in the blank spaces and click the search button to get your results. The property may be deemed abandoned or “lost” if there hasn’t been any contact with the owner for an extended period of time and/or a lack of transactions has rendered the account dormant. There are Guides to Unclaimed Property that have been published for the public by the State of North Carolina. The Guide will give you instructions on what will be needed to reclaim your property and how to prove it is, indeed, yours. You may also call Unclaimed Property Division at 919-508-1000.
Holders are legally required to attempt to contact the owner of the property. G.S. 116B-59 charges the holder to make a good faith effort to find the owner and send the owner a written notice within 120 days. There are penalties for not complying.
The state is required to send a list of unclaimed properties to the Clerk of Superior Ct. in each N.C. county and to publish the lists in at least 2 widely distributed N.C. newspapers.
There are many people working as “finders” who professionally contact those who are entitled to receive previously lost properties and assist them in recovery of the same. Although it is sometimes necessary to employ someone to do this because of estate confusion, deaths or re-marriage, be aware that a person can do this him/herself without a great deal of problem by accessing the website for the state or by searching for “unclaimed property.”