Search the state of Georgia Unclaimed Property Web site to find assets.Then learn how to keep property from being unclaimed.SPECIAL

Unclaimed assets can be found on the Web

Web posted March 12, 1999

By Lee Shearer
Morris News Service

ATHENS, Ga. - A new state of Georgia site on the World Wide Web aims to reunite some 800,000 owners of unclaimed property with what's theirs -- some $180 million in unclaimed assets the state Department of Revenue has accumulated since 1973.

The state already puts legal ads in newspapers around the state at least once a year asking the rightful owners of property to step forward, but with the new web site, people can dial up from home at any time to see if their name or the name of someone they know is on the list.

The Georgia Unclaimed Property Web site address is http://www2.state.ga.us/departments/dor/ptd/.

Once in the site, Internet users can enter the name they're looking for -- using either the first and last name or last name only. The searcher can also optionally specify a Georgia city where there may be some unclaimed property.

The site does not describe or value the unclaimed property -- the average is about $225 -- but it does contain a telephone number to call to begin the claims process: (404) 656-4244, the number of the Department of Revenue's Unclaimed Property Section.

There is no expiration date to claim property, but the owner or his or her heirs will have to establish identity and proof of ownership, according to Department of Revenue spokesman Reg Lansbury.

``Our sole interest is ensuring that all property be retuned to its legal owners as soon as possible,'' Jerry Jackson, state Department of Revenue commissioner, said in a news release announcing the new web site.

The most common types of unclaimed property are things like money from savings and checking accounts, stocks, dividends, uncashed checks, safety deposit box contents, utility deposits and wages, Mr. Lansbury said. But there are also all sorts of other things such as coin collections and personal mementos, he said.

Most of the property has gone unclaimed for five years or more, though some dates to 1973.

Under Georgia law, banks, insurance companies, corporations, courts and other agencies must turn over unclaimed property to the state after a certain amount of time has passed. Unclaimed wages or proceeds from a company's liquidation must be turned over within a year, contents of safety deposit boxes within two years, traveler's checks 15 years of the issue date and money orders seven years from the issue date.

Other kinds of property must be turned over five years after the last contact with the owner.