Big Money, but No Wealth of Clues About the Owners : Finances: The state is holding $1.4 billion in unclaimed assets. O.C. residents are entitled to $30 million.
You know how it is: Things get hectic and pretty soon you’ve forgotten about that $50,000 in the bank.
For those of you who lose your keys or forget where you park, take solace: About 100,000 Orange Countians have forgotten or abandoned savings accounts and property worth a combined $30 million, according to the State Controller’s Office. In their owners’ absence, every nickel has been turned over to State Controller Gray Davis for safekeeping. Or so the controller swears.
“A good deal of money is awaiting a phone call in Sacramento,” Davis said.
Rita Marcus, if you’re out there, there’s $42,431 waiting for you.
Mr. Rachmat, there’s $113,233 with your name on it.
Barbara Renshaw had a tidy $33,803 the state was holding until recently, when a reporter contacted her. “Oh dear,” said the 67-year-old Fullerton widow, who has lived comfortably off of her late husband’s insurance policy. “Who do I see about getting it? I’m not starving, but I’d like to have it.”
Renshaw is not alone: About 2.6 million people and businesses in California have, collectively, abandoned or forgotten $1.4 billion in unclaimed loot, nearly the equivalent of the annual budget of North Dakota. That includes dormant bank accounts, stock, utility refunds, unused gift certificates, and uncashed paychecks and cashier’s checks. Only the state of New York has a bigger kitty of unclaimed booty.
State officials believe California has the highest number of abandoned accounts containing five- and six-figure sums.
The largest unclaimed account in the state, a bank account worth $160,973, belongs to Lu Rong, whose last known address was in Monterey Park in Los Angeles County.
“You have to wonder what happened there,” said Eddward Fong of the State Controller’s Office. “How does a guy forget about $160,000?”
All of which underscores why California passed unclaimed property laws in the first place: to prevent banks and financial institutions from quietly pocketing such forgotten funds--a practice state officials say was common 40 years ago.
By law, banks and other financial institutions must turn over to the state accounts that have been inactive for at least three years. The time limit used to be seven years, but state officials changed the statute a few years ago, they say, because in today’s transient society the trail to rightful owners can grow cold quickly.
Most people who are owed money have small sums coming to them--as little as $25--but several hundred people are owed more than $10,000 each.
In some cases, the property includes the contents of abandoned safe-deposit boxes. Among the loot: a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth, a signed Beatles picture and a Purple Heart.
Some of the reasons why the property and money go unclaimed are better than others, but all would likely seem implausible to many who cannot afford to lose track of 50 bucks, let alone 50 grand.
Often, the owner has simply forgotten about the account and moved without leaving a forwarding address. Sometimes, the owner has died and the heirs do not know about the property. In other cases, the person has not moved at all, but is the victim of senility or dottiness or the sheer bustle of modern life.
“People get busy, I guess,” Fong said. “It is somewhat of a mystery.”
On average, the state is able to return only a fifth of what it takes in each year in unclaimed property.
Although the controller’s office used to search for owners by taking out newspaper advertisements and cross-checking public records, that effort has been the victim of the state’s budget crunch. Today, only a single letter is dispatched to the owner’s last known address, explaining where the money is and how to get it.
Every so often, though, the state does hit pay dirt.
In 1990, a 93-year-old widow who had forgotten about her holdings for more than 20 years received $127,000 in cash and bonds after she was found living in an Oakland residential hotel.
A year ago, a former prisoner of war who had more than $100,000 coming to her from a savings account was located in San Francisco.
In theory, the unclaimed assets are kept in perpetuity for the missing owners. In practice, the money flows into the state general fund and helps bankroll government activities.
“We are constantly reminding the Legislature, this is not tax revenue, this is not oil revenue, this is people’s money,” Davis said. “If they claim it, we have to give it back to them, plus interest.”
Even names of the wealthy and well-known have appeared on the unclaimed assets list. In 1988, former President Ronald Reagan had $3,492 left over from an old campaign account. Onetime U.S. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III had $9,095 from a bank account left by his late father. Entertainer Bob Hope had $16,000 in an account.
Of course, all of them proved easier to locate.
For their part, Orange Countians Dahlen Martin and Renshaw, the Fullerton widow, were easy enough to find: Both still live at their last known addresses.
Renshaw said her account--$33,803 in stock--dates back to the 1960s when her husband, a doctor, purchased partial ownership in a hospital. After he died in a plane crash in 1973, she simply lost track of the stock. He had a sizable life insurance policy, she said, and “besides, I had two little kids to raise. I didn’t really have time to deal with it. I just kind of put it aside and thought, well, I can take care of it later.
“I never dreamed it would be turned over to the state.”
The State Controller’s Office took possession of the unclaimed stock in 1987 after the hospital was sold. Over the years, Renshaw had misplaced the paperwork on the stock deal and eventually forgot about it. In a recent interview, she recalled being contacted about the stock’s status three years ago, but said she was never able to follow up on it.
“I haven’t been desperate for it. But the way things are going up,” the retired schoolteacher said, referring to the cost of living, “I could use it.”
In the case of Martin, a Santa Ana businessman, his unclaimed account of $26,101 also dates back to a business transaction in the 1960s. He said he bought 1,700 shares of stock at $12 a share in a fledgling electronics company. Several years later, when the company was dissolved, he shrugged it off as a loss and carried on.
“I just thought, well, maybe someday it’ll show up and maybe it won’t,” he said, “although $26,000 was pretty important to me back in the time it happened.”
The funds were turned over to the State Controller’s Office in 1988. Martin vaguely recalled being contacted a few years ago by someone who offered to get the money back for him for a 10% cut--likely, someone from an heir-finder firm, which attempts to locate people on unclaimed property lists. But Martin did not take up the offer, nor did he follow up on it. “I didn’t know what it was worth,” he said.
After being told how much he had coming to him and where it was, Martin said he would make sure the funds were returned to him right away.
“I’m sure my wife and nine kids can figure out something to do with it,” he said.
Indeed, Fong said both Martin and Renshaw had recently contacted the State Controller’s Office and that it would take only a few weeks to get them their money--”as soon as we determine that is in fact them.”
“That is the catch,” Fong said, “you’ve got to prove that you’re the person we’re looking for.”
As it turns out, the odds may be higher than presumed. For those older than 30 who have lived in California for any length of time, the state says the chances are one in 10 that it has money for them--odds, the controller’s office points out, that are considerably better than the state lottery.
That sounds improbable--or so this reporter thought--until the state searched its unclaimed property list and found under his name a four-figure sum from an old bank account.
The amount: $27.83.
Unclaimed Riches
About $30 million in unclaimed accounts and property awaits Orange County residents. All the money has been turned over to the state controller for safekeeping. If you think the state is holding any property that belongs to you, call (800) 992-4647 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. How Orange County compares; accounts and values estimated:
Value County Accounts (in millions) Los Angeles 500,000 $200.0 Orange 100,000 30.0 Riverside 25,000 8.0 Ventura 20,000 5.5
TOP OF THE LIST
The top 10 unclaimed accounts in Orange County, including the last known address if available:
Minimum years Beneficiary Amount Property type inactive Rachmat Tjandraprawira $113,233.88 Savings account 8 c/o Runah Sakit Limijati, La Habra Rita Marcus $42,430.77 Miscellaneous funds 8 c/o H.M. Sander, Los Alamitos Shigeki Katayama, Santa Ana $39,333.85 Miscellaneous funds 8 Barbara Renshaw, Fullerton $33,803.73 Stock 10 Behnaz Bayai, Placentia $32,048.29 Savings account 8 Everett Malcom, Costa Mesa $27,089.07 Savings account 8 Dahlen Martin, Santa Ana $26,101.74 Stock 9 Joaquim Gordinaho $25,291.35 Savings account 11 Robert Woolley, Newport Beach $23,775.33 Demand deposit 8 Vera Miller, Seal Beach $21,790.27 Savings account 8
Source: State Controller’s Office
