(Part 1 of 2)

A report released recently in the Chattanooga Times announced that millions of dollars in GA lottery winnings go unclaimed in GA and Tennessee. Lottery officials say this is largely due to people that buy lottery tickets while they are passing through and forget to see if they've won or not.

According to another news report though, a bigger amount of Georgia unclaimed money is in the hands of the State Treasury Department. Hundreds of millions of dollars in abandoned assets are held by the state government and most Georgians are not aware that it exists. Catherine Westbrook, an elderly resident of the state was completely aware though but she became frustrated when she attempted to get a twelve hundred dollar check from a forgotten life insurance policy. "When I didn't get it for two or three weeks, then I called and they would say, 'No, the check wasn't written, hasn't been written' — that's all they would tell me.", said Westbrook who, after getting her check five months after, adds: "I don't know why they take so long to write a check."

GA's Unclaimed Money Law or escheat law (which originates from feudal laws in England) states that abandoned and forgotten properties such as income tax refunds, bank accounts, uncollected wages, cash dividends on stocks and mineral deposits, uncashed checks, gift certificates, insurance premium overpayments, and others have to be turned over to the state after a specified 'dormancy period'. This period for GA is between 1 and 5 years for unclaimed financial assets. "Dormant funds are remitted to the State of Georgia. Demand deposit accounts are deemed to be dormant after 12 months and time and savings accounts are deemed to be dormant after a period of five years without activity", according to a statement from Georgia's State Treasury. In a recent press release from the GA Department of Revenue's Unclaimed Funds Unit, "The time that must elapse for property to be determined "abandoned" and turned over to the state varies depending on the type of property. For example, unclaimed wages and company liquidation proceeds must be turned over to the state after one year. The vast majority of unclaimed property must be turned over to the state five years after the last contact with the rightful owner. Time frames for other types of property are: safe deposit box contents must be forwarded to the state two years after the box was opened by the holding financial institution; money orders seven years after the issue date; and traveler's checks 15 years from the issue date."

(to be continued)

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