Why many Unclaimed Assets or Properties are difficult to locate even if the assets are in the custody of a government agency:

The States' Unclaimed Property Divisions only hold approximately half of all unclaimed or lost assets.

All assets issued or owing by Federal Agencies will not appear in any State unclaimed database. Each Federal Agency maintains its own unclaimed property records.

Specific assets issued by many State or local governments themselves (income or property tax refunds, payroll, vendors checks or warrants) will not show up in State databases in generally because the owner within a specific time frame must claim these unclaimed assets or refunds. Afterwards, these unclaimed assets become the property of the government agency.

The dollar amount or value of the unclaimed property is under specific value i.e.) $50 or $100.

The unclaimed or lost asset is still in its 'dormancy period' meaning the asset holder is not yet required to transfer over to the appropriate Government agency. This 'dormancy period' varies per property type and per each state's unclaimed property statutes. The 'dormancy period' could be as short as one year and as long as 15 yrs. The average is less than 5 years and being shortened by Government agencies all the time. Those assets in their 'dormancy period' are also called "pre-escheat". An unclaimed asset that is in government custody is called “escheated”.

A few States i.e.) Wyoming does not list unclaimed property in their public online database until the asset has been in its custody for 2 years; Maine currently only lists property reported prior to Jan. 2003.

Cashier checks, money orders and traveler checks are examples of unclaimed property turned over to the States without names. The holders report the check or serial number, date of purchase and amount only. Also note, travelers checks typically have a 15 yr. dormancy period.

A few States only list the most recently added unclaimed accounts.

Be sure to search under a maiden name, various spellings and initials of one's first name, nicknames and/or possible misspellings of the last name.

Check all states in which you have resided or worked in, as well as, the State in which a former employer/company is or was headquartered.

Many States Unclaimed Property Divisions are understaffed and cannot update regularly.

Two States, namely Indiana and Idaho have passed laws by which assets left unclaimed after a specific number of years in their custody will not longer be claimable by the Owner, but will become the property of the State.

Tangible items left in an abandoned Safe Deposit Box will, in most States, be auctioned off and the proceeds credited in the owner's name. The proceeds amount may not be listed in the database until after the auction. State auctions are normally held once or twice a year. Some states are currently using E-Bay to auction off these items.

There is no continuity in search engine query sensitivity - some are case and/or space sensitive; while other require an exact match while searching in the different state databases. If the query is entered incorrectly, a (false) negative result may appear.

Since unclaimed assets/money are effectively revenue for the States, if there is a question as to the last known address of the owner, State A maybe challenging or delaying a reciprocal agreement to transfer the asset/money to State B and therefore not list that asset/money in its public online database until the issue is resolved.