State treasurer urges Kentuckians to find out if they have unclaimed property

FRANKFORT, Ky. (July, 2012) — If you’re a “Patriot” with some “Independence” in your name or if you’re a Washington, Jefferson or Franklin, there may be some unclaimed property being held for you at the Kentucky State Treasury.

In fact, there are 3,300 unclaimed properties with the name Franklin attached, 2,300 with Washington, 2,200 Jefferson’s, 17 with the name Independence and 7 with Patriot.

State Treasurer Todd Hollenbach serves as custodian of all unclaimed property surrendered to the state that is presumed lost or abandoned.

“Most of the properties are in the form of cash,” Hollenbach said, “from old insurance policies to stocks and bonds to leftover bank accounts. There are also more than 20,000 unclaimed items stored in the Treasury vault including a Joe DiMaggio autographed baseball, some silver bullion, jewelry and gold coins.  It’s our duty to help return these items to the rightful owners.”

Each year, the Kentucky Treasury returns millions of dollars in unclaimed property to Kentucky residents. Since 2008, the Treasury has returned a record $64 million in unclaimed property.

Searching for unclaimed property is simple. All you need to do is visit www.kytreasury.com and click on the “Unclaimed Property Search” and then enter your name in the search box.

And now you can search nationwide by clicking on the “Missing Money” icon on the “Unclaimed Property Search” page. That will provide you with access to a national unclaimed property database.  Maybe you’ve got a rich Uncle Sam out there who’s left you some loot!

If you don’t have access to a computer and the internet, you can call toll free at 1-800-465-4722.