[PSUBS-MAILIST] Unclaimed Property

Tue Jul 1 01:01:11 EDT 2025

Hello Gang,

Before I get to the subject of this email I would like tooffer a most sincere apology for its length.  The reason it’s so long is because I felt the need to not only givenumerus examples to show the potential here but also include enough detail tohelp insure success for those this might be helpful to.  With that said, here’s the email:

As I think we can all agree, building a submarine can berather pricy with some of us having to save for years before we can even startand then not finishing as soon as we would like because we’re just a littleshort on funds.  I would like to suggesthere a *possible solution* for at least some of us.

I live in California (United States) and I have a habit ofrunning the names of people I meet through the California Unclaimed Propertydatabase.  I’m willing to bet that manyof you who live or have lived in California have never even heard of thatdatabase (it’s been my experience that only about 1 person in 20 have evenheard of it, much less searched it). It’s a database run by the State Controller’s Office.  It’s where dormant bank accounts end up alongwith things like stocks, bonds, uncashed checks, the contents of safe depositboxes that have been forgotten about, trust funds, paypal refunds, premiumrefunds, estates, etc.

Here are a few of MANY examples of “found money” from thedatabase:

Back in 2012 when I was in the navy, I helped a sailor in mydetachment find $48 for herself before she looked up her sister in the database.  Her sister was in there for over $5,200!  Her sister found it utterly impossible tobelieve that she had lost track of that kind of money.  Any doubts she had vanished when the checkcame 2 weeks later.

More recently I found about $600 for my Endodontist, $800for the guy who did my taxes, $1,200 for my Dermatologist, $2,000 for myastronomy professor, $4,200 for a lady I give a ride to church every Sunday, $7,200for another lady at church and $9,000 for a guy on the church staff.  In all 7 of these cases, none of these folkshad any clue the state was holding any money for them!  Just a few months ago when searching the lastname of a lady in a prayer request that I received in my email, I found someonewho is in the database for over $81,000! I wrote the family (now out of state) about it to let them know how tofind and claim it.  I’m sure many of youfondly remember our friend and fellow psubber Brian Cox who passed away a fewshort years ago.  As it turns out,there’s a Cox Family Trust mentioned in the database (based on the address,it’s definitely the property of Brian’s family).  The uncashed interest checks total about$1,000.  I told Teri (Brian’s wife) aboutthe money and she’s now in the process of claiming it.  A point I happened to make to her whendiscussing this matter was the fact that these checks are “interest” from theTrust…that makes me wonder what the principle must be like?!

You never know when you’re going to show up in the database(so check every once in a while).  Mymother showed up in the database 6 years after she died!  The amount was $10,000.  My sister and I were able to claim it as soonas we sent in a copy of her will and death certificate.  

Don’t just look for yourself or family in the database, butfriends as well…who knows…maybe they would be happy to give you a finder’s fee!

Don’t just look for people in these databases!  Businesses are there as well!  I found $300 for my church that was “lost”and $700 for a friend of mine at church who had a garbage disposal businessover 20 years ago!  I found thousandsmore for a realtor who was once trying to help me buy a house (the money was inthe name of his business).

You can reach the database for California by simply googling“California unclaimed property” and clicking on the first link in theresults.  Here’s the direct link forthose who don’t want to search google:  https://ucpi.sco.ca.gov/en/Property/SearchIndex

While many states have their own unclaimed propertydepartment, a large number are associated with www.missingmoney.com  This isn’t my favorite website to hunt formoney (it can be a little frustrating at times) but it might be all some of youget to try.  One important fact toremember when looking for unclaimed property: *ALL LEGITIMATE DATABASESEARCHES ARE FREE*.  There areplenty of websites out there offering to “help” you for a “small fee” with yoursearch and asset recovery, but you shouldn’t need any of them to get what itrightfully yours.  When looking for anunclaimed property database, skip any web search results that have the word“Sponsored” above them.

At the federal level (here in the US) you might take a lookat: https://www.usa.gov/unclaimed-money

Additionally, you might want to check on the county levelfor any “lost” funds.  For example, ifyou ever lived in Los Angeles county, you can search for uncashed checks here: https://unclaimedchecks.lacounty.gov/Welcome

One day when I had nothing better to do, I looked for afriend of mine in that database.  Ididn’t find her, but I did find a young lady who lost a $5,000 check.  Since her address was also listed, I thoughtI would see if she was in the phone book.  She was and I gave her a call. She was happy to find out about the money and asked for my address soshe could send me a “finder’s fee”.  Igave her my address but never got a dime (lol).

When searching ANY unclaimed property database, startwith as little information as possible (just first and last name) in order tocast as wide a net as possible.  Iftoo many results show up, then filter them by adding things like the name ofthe city that you live in or have lived in. You’ll find this to be true for unclaimed property databases in Canada,Europe, Australia, and other places as well.
I’m certain there’s money waiting for some of you outthere!  In some cases, it will bepennies, in other cases it may be enough to start or finish a sub. If you do happen to find anything let the rest of us knowhow much you’ve found (if you think it will encourage others to look)!  Happy hunting, Good Luck and God bless! JimPS  Justin Helland,  If you happen to be reading this, please contact me at: genprobe at yahoo.com.  I've got some sub parts you can have (through hull connections, a hatch o-ring and more) if you think they would be of use in your building your K350.

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