If you have patience, it can be easy to find abandoned property records
Q. My question is concerning lost property (stocks, bonds, bank accounts, etc.). My mother-in-law, a retired schoolteacher, passed away over 12 years ago. She left a very complicated, diverse estate, and because of family issues at the time, many of her properties ended up in transfer companies or Massachusetts Abandoned Property. My husband and I worked hard to find everything and retrieve property from Abandoned Property. We thought we had it all taken care of until our daughter received notice from a transfer company that they had property worth more than $3,500 listed in her maiden name, along with her deceased grandmother's name, and that for a 35 percent fee, they would tell her how to get it. Do we have to pay that fee?
ANONYMOUS
A. In short, no, if you are patient and persistent. Going through the state treasurer's abandoned property records is an easy must-do exercise for everyone. Not everyone will find something, but you'd be surprised how many do. I recently found money for a couple of relatives from closed bank accounts and a forgotten deposit.
You can find the state treasurer's website at http://abpweb.tre.state.ma.us, or use www.MissingMoney.com, particularly if you've lived in other states.
Asset recovery firms aggressively search states' abandoned property inventories and then reach out to potential targets who might be willing to pay their fees. When these companies are seeking heirs, they can't even enforce their contracts unless the property has been in the state's hands for at least two years. So, typically, once you've gotten a letter from one of these companies, the property has been unclaimed for a while.
Once you get one of these letters, it means you should be able to claim the property on your own. Sometimes it's hard to track down because of typographical errors. With a single improper character, a computer searcher could miss its target. Using one of these firms and paying their steep commissions is only worth it if you have no interest in entering the hunt yourself. Sometimes you just have to wait a bit longer to see your name or a relative's name pop up on the list.
On the upside, if you hear from one of these companies (make sure they're real and not a scam), it is reasonable to conclude there is money to be found.
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