The Louisiana State Treasurer’s Office currently holds over $900 million worth of unclaimed funds for current and former Louisiana residents.

Louisiana’s Department of Treasury set a record this year by returning $70.6 million worth in unclaimed property to over 160,000 Louisiana residents.

One in six Louisiana residents are said to have unclaimed property.

How to find out if you have unclaimed property in Louisiana:

Unclaimed property is comprised of abandoned financial assets, such as account balances, outstanding checks and other financial instruments, that are held at corporations, financial institutions, life insurance companies and other various institutions.

Unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts, uncashed payroll checks, stock dividends and utility deposit refunds are common types of unclaimed property. Real Estate and vehicles are not considered unclaimed property.

In Louisiana, the average amount of a check issued from unclaimed property is $900, however, some parishes have more unclaimed property than others. To receive a check for unclaimed property, a claim must be filed on the official Louisiana Unclaimed Property website.

The first step to claiming property is to search for the property on Louisiana’s Unclaimed Property website, by entering a name, or name of a business, then one will be able to see search results and find properties. Once the property is found, continue to file a claim and begin the claiming process.

In the claiming process, select the relationship to each property and then enter required personal information. After submitting the claim, the claims office will send an email with further instruction. After completing the necessary steps, one can track the claim’s progress online.

How does Louisiana treasury unclaimed money work?

When checks remain un-cashed, or accounts go dormant, and companies are unable to contact the owner, the funds are transferred to the Treasurer’s Office for safekeeping.

The Treasurer’s Office acts as the vault for the state, holding lost funds until they are claimed by either the original owners, heirs or legal representatives. The Treasurer’s Office holds these funds until they are claimed, no matter the amount of time that has passed.

Each year, businesses render millions of dollars in unclaimed cash, stocks, bonds, securities and insurance proceeds to the Department of Treasury. These unclaimed property funds may be lost through the course of business, typically caused by a bad address. The state’s Department of Treasury is legally required to preserve funds in safekeeping, despite how long it may take for the rightful owner to come forward.

The institution holding potential unclaimed property will initiate contact with the owner and establish activity through online login, written correspondence, withdrawal, deposit or update to personal information. If activity is not produced, the assets are reported to the state of the owner’s last know address.

Laws regarding unclaimed property began in the U.S. as a consumer protection program. Now, these laws have evolved to protect not only the property owners, but their heirs and estates as well.

Once the state is given custody of property, and it enters the unclaimed property program, efforts to reach the property’s rightful recipient begin via mailings, social media, advertisements and local media coverage. Individuals can claim their property for themselves, their businesses or as an heir.

In 2018, the Department of Treasury partnered with the Louisiana Department of Revenue in order to pass legislation that allows the departments’ agencies to share databases. This allowed the Department of Treasury to increase the number of checks issued by nearly 500% and decreased the administrative cost of issuing each check by 80%.