WV Press Release Sharing
CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. – State Treasurer Riley Moore visited the Jefferson County Board of Education Thursday, September 14, to present two unclaimed property checks worth nearly $32,000 total to benefit the Jefferson County Board of Education and Jefferson County Commission.
“It was great returning unclaimed property to its rightful owners in my home county,” Treasurer Moore said. “Due to our recent reforms and program initiatives in my Office, we were able to efficiently reunite the Jefferson County Board of Education and County Commission with their lost funds.”
Treasurer Moore presented Jefferson County Schools Superintendent William “Chuck” Bishop, Ed.D., with an unclaimed property check worth $14,714.61 for the Jefferson County Board of Education. The funds were from stale dated checks, mainly consisting of payments from schools in the county.
“We were surprised to have almost $15,000 in unclaimed property being held by the State Treasurer’s Office,” Superintendent Dr. Bishop said. “We’ll put the money into our general fund with our school division and plan make the best use of this money to serve our students.”
Jefferson County Commission President Steve Stolipher and Commissioners Tricia Jackson and Jennifer Krouse received a check totaling $17,205.90 for the Jefferson County Commission. The funds were from various stale dated checks turned over to the State Treasurer’s Office.
“It was a pleasure working with State Treasurer Riley Moore’s Office to receive our unclaimed property,” Commission President Stolipher said. “We are going to take this money back to the commission and decide how to use the funds to benefit our community.”
Recently, Treasurer Moore announced that his Office’s Unclaimed Property Division returned more than $1.1 million worth of unclaimed property to individuals, businesses and organizations during the month of August.
The State Treasurer’s Office now has more than $400 million in unclaimed property listings in its database. Visit www.WVUnclaimedProperty.gov to find out if the Office is holding any assets for you or your family.
What is Unclaimed Property?
Unclaimed property can include financial accounts or items of value in which the owner has not initiated any activity for one year or longer. Common examples include unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts and unused rebate cards. (While the title includes the word “property,” it does not however include real estate.)
West Virginia’s unclaimed property laws protect the public by ensuring money and property owed to them is returned, rather than remaining permanently with financial institutions, business associations, governments and other entities. The Treasurer seeks to reunite the unclaimed property, including uncashed paychecks, stocks, or safe deposit box contents, with its owner.
Nationwide, nearly 33 million people in the United States – one in every 10 – are estimated to have unclaimed property available for them to claim.
How Can I Find Unclaimed Property in My Name?
West Virginians searching for lost financial assets can go to www.WVUnclaimedProperty.gov. In addition to finding property, the website will also help you track a claim.
A demonstration of how to use the Unclaimed Property search site is available on the Treasury’s YouTube page, at: https://youtu.be/K09yQ7YNKlE.
To search for lost financial assets outside West Virginia, visit www.MissingMoney.com.
