Unclaimed Property
Texas is currently holding about $3.4 billion in cash and other valuables waiting for their rightful owners to claim. The Texas Comptroller estimates that one in four residents of the State of Texas have unclaimed property. Examples of unclaimed property include dividend, payroll or cashier’s checks; stocks, bonds and mutual fund accounts; utility deposits and other refunds; insurance proceeds; mineral interest or royalty payments; dormant bank accounts; and abandoned safe deposit box contents.
The Texas Comptroller’s office receives unclaimed property as required by law from financial institutions, businesses, and government entities that are holding personal property which is considered abandoned or unclaimed. The unclaimed or abandoned property is turned over to the Comptroller’s office when the property owners’ whereabouts are unknown and the property has been inactive on the books of the reporting company after the necessary abandonment period has expired. It is important to know that the Comptroller’s office acts only as a custodian of the unclaimed property, and holds the property in a trust until such time as it can be claimed. Texas does not take legal ownership of the unclaimed property, so there is no time limit for filing a claim.
Over the past several years, the Texas Comptroller has traveled around the state to bring public attention to the billions in unclaimed property being held by the State of Texas. In 2014 the Comptroller’s office returned over $200 million in unclaimed property. This is important because since the unclaimed property program began, the Comptroller’s office returned over $1 billion worth of unclaimed property. The average individual claim that is paid out is around $1,000 and the single largest claim was made in 1996 at $4.3 million.
In order to make the process of claiming your property easier, the Comptroller’s office has outlined a number of recent features on their website to help enable the process. The Comptroller is regularly updated with new property that has been received by their office.
To find out if you are one of these Texas residents with unclaimed property, I strongly recommend that you check the unclaimed property list by visiting Texas Unclaimed Property or by calling 1-800-654-FIND (3463).
If you would like to follow the Texas House and learn more information on news, committees or other aspects of the legislative body, you can access its website at Texas House of Representatives The site features live streaming from the House floor, committee hearings as well as access to a number of other resources. You can also follow the Texas Senate at, Texas Senate. The Texas Governor’s official website can be found at The Texas Governor. For important information regarding transportation in the state, feel free to visit the Texas Department of Transportation. The Texas General Land Office’s website can be found at Texas General Land Office, and visit the Texas Railroad Commission.
As a reminder, the 84th Texas Legislative session began on January 13th and is currently underway. As always, I want to hear your ideas and suggestion. Your ideas and information are important forms of feedback and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact my office.
If you have questions regarding any of the information mentioned in this week’s article, please do not hesitate to call my Capitol or District Office. Please always feel free to contact my office if you have any questions or issues regarding a Texas state agency, or if you would like to contact my office regarding constituent services. As always, my offices are available at any time to assist with questions, concerns or comments (Capitol Office, 512-463-0672; District Office, 361-949-4603).
– State Representative Todd Hunter, District 32
Rep. Hunter represents Nueces (Part) County. He can be contacted at todd.hunter@house.state.tx.us or at 512-463-0672.
