Escheatable

According to a  blog post in the Wall Street Journal 's CFO Journal, Delaware State Escheator Mark Udinski has announced his retirement effective August 1.  Udinski has been the head of Delaware's unclaimed property program  for the past several years, and was the director of the state's audit program prior to that.  Mr. Udinski's successor has not been announced by the Delaware Department of Finance.

More States Announce Owner Reclaim Records -- Recently, we noted New York's and Missouri's announcements that they returned a record amount of property to rightful owners during the most recent fiscal year.  This week brings additional notices from Louisiana and  Texas touting record returns.  Congrats to all. Nebraska Announces Outreach Events -- Speaking of owner reunification, the Nebraska State Treasurer's Office has announced a series of events all across the state where an "unclaimed property specialist" will be available to help citizens look for their unclaimed property.  Treasury officials will be attending the Nebraska State Fair , Harvest Husker Days , and other places.  A schedule of outreach events can be found here . Missouri Warns of Unclaimed Property Scam -- According to a story by CBS affiliate KOAM7 , Missouri State Treasurer is warning citizens about an unclaimed property scam being conducted by someone posing as an auditor from the

Unclaimed property laws, in a nutshell, generally require a "holder" of "property" belonging to an "owner" to report and remit (i.e., turn over) that property to a state government after a statutorily defined period of inactivity (known as the "dormancy period).  In many instances, the operation of these concepts is pretty straightforward:  If XYZ, Inc. has an outstanding check on its books owed to ABC Corp , and the check has remained uncashed for 3 years (or maybe 5 years, or some other period of time, depending on the state) than that items is statutorily deemed "abandoned" by ABC, and XYZ must report and remit that property to the appropriate state. As with many seemingly simple things, nuances in the factual scenario sometimes complicate this analysis.  For example, in multi-party relationships, it is sometimes difficult to determine who is the "holder" of property with the obligation to report and remit to the state.  Oth

New York Sets Unclaimed Property Reunification Record . . .  -- According to an article in the Auburn Citizen , the New York State Office of Unclaimed Funds returned a record $347 million in unclaimed property during fiscal year 2012-13.  Lest anyone think that the job at OUF is complete, the same article notes that New York still has $12.5 billion in funds waiting to be claimed. . . . As Does Missouri (Again) -- Missouri State Treasurer (and Escheatable   guest ) Clint Zweifel recently  announced that his office also broke the state reunification record by returning more than $39 million in the past year.  The record wasn't very old - it was broken by the State Treasury last year. Oregon Holding Holder Education Seminars -- All summer, the Oregon Department of State Lands will be hosting holder education seminars for reporters of unclaimed property.  According to the DSL's website , the half-day seminars will include an overview of the law, determining when and how t

The Unclaimed Property Professionals' Organization , the premiere trade group for holders of unclaimed property is holding its next Holders' Seminar on August 14-15 in Chicago, Illinois.  The Holders' Seminar features a wealth of information on unclaimed property topics, and features both "beginner" and "intermediate" educational tracks.  More information can be found on the UPPO website,  here . For those of you who can't make the trip to Chicago, on July 25th, UPPO is hosting a webinar on  "VDAs: Everything but Delaware."   Although the "First-Staters" out there may be loathe to admit it, there are other states out there.  (Really, they have  flags and state birds , and everything).  For those of you with questions about voluntary disclosure and amnesty arrangements in places other than Delaware, UPPO has you covered.  Registration information can be found here .