The DC government has decades-old unclaimed property. Why?
Jesse B Rauch had been privy to the idea of unclaimed properties for some time. He’d searched sites in the past, for “shits and giggles,” but nothing had come up in his name. But when DCist journalist Martin Austermuhle tweeted that he’d managed to get a whopping $53.47 back, Rauch decided to check again. He found he had a little under $1,000 with his name on it.
Unclaimed properties are assets belonging to an individual or business that have been abandoned or forgotten by its owners. The most commonly unclaimed properties are bank accounts, stocks, bonds, uncashed paychecks, or utility refunds.
Jeremy Dawson, the director of the National Association of Unclaimed Properties Administrators, says there are a number of different reasons an asset may become unclaimed.
“The paycheck or refund that goes to an old address or never gets cashed is a very common example,” he says. “Property owners simply forget about a check or account. In others, an account or asset may not be known to the property owner. This is usually in the case of an inheritance or investment dividend check. Additionally, companies and financial institutions close, merge, or consolidate over time. As a result, accounts and other assets may get lost in the mix.”
It also takes time before a property becomes unclaimed. Most states’ “dormancy period” — the time in which no activity or contact is made — is three to five years. Once the dormancy period is reached, businesses must try to reconnect with the owners one more time.
If the holder still isn’t able to locate the owner, these “properties” will be turned over to the state (or in DC’s case, the District). It’s up to each state’s offices to try and get these properties back to their rightful owners — and in some cases, it stays there for decades. And if the owner dies, the legitimate heir can claim it.
“We’re only the custodian, we never take full possession,” Lynn Hall, the DC office’s manager, explains. “It sits there until they make the claim.”
In 2022, the DC Office of Unclaimed Properties sent out 26,000 claims. Of these claims, only 4,235 were returned, amounting to about $27 million worth of property claimed.
“We do a lot of efforts for locating owners,” Hall says. “We run locating reports based on the property that is submitted to us, and we go through that list and literally send out claims to those property owners.”
However, Hall estimates that the office has over $500 million total — some of which has been there for decades — and usually returns about 60 percent of known property. But why is there such a disconnect between how much is accrued and how much is returned? Hall attributes it to a number of factors such as natural skepticism and the transient nature of the District.
“With DC, it’s different than most states because we have an influx of people coming in and working in the government or Capitol,” she says. “They’ll come in and be working here and then they will leave and go back to their home state and they could have payroll or some other type of money.”
There’s also the potential lack of awareness. Though the DC office is engaged in various outreach efforts — including the promotion of National Unclaimed Properties Day on February 1 — people are still surprised to hear that such a program exists. This is a problem nationally with unclaimed properties.
“Most people aren’t aware of unclaimed property, they don’t know how to search for it,” Dawson says. “Or if they do hear about it, we’re always striving to overcome that credibility gap.”
There are also issues with access. Rauch says he’s lived in DC almost two decades and, because he used to work in the DC government, unclaimed properties would come up every once in a while.
“I was casually aware of it that way and I don’t know if the general population was aware of it in that way,” he explains. “If you’re not in local government, you may not have a whole lot of interaction or think such a thing exists.”
Rauch points out there’s also an equity issue in that those claiming more than $500 require a notary. DC also doesn’t allow electronic notarizations, which could impact access
That’s not to say the office isn’t aware of these issues. According to Hall, there are two notaries on staff in the unclaimed property office. The office has also begun in-person outreach at DC government-sponsored events, created pamphlets, established displays, and even participated in TV outreach.
“You can lead a horse to water but can’t make them drink, as the old saying goes,” Dawson says. “You can inform people of their property, you can make it easier and easier to claim, but at the end of the day there’s some onus on the owner.”
For those looking to potentially get some cash back in their name, Rauch advises checking the website every once in a while.
“Anyone on a regular basis should check the unclaimed property database,” he recommends. “It doesn’t hurt, it’s an online search, super easy. And you never know, you might hit the jackpot.”
