State holds $200 million that 914,000 O.C. residents or firms haven't claimed
Dec. 6, 2015 Updated 8:21 a.m.
By BROOKE EDWARDS STAGGS / Staff Writer
Do you have money waiting?
Search the state's unclaimed property database at:https://ucpi.sco.ca.gov/UCP/
Kobe Bryant has $232 coming to him.
The Samms family of Laguna Woods is owed $31,365.
And heirs of Gojko Komlenac, a Laguna Niguel man who died in 2006, can lay claim to $363,140.
Need some extra cash for the holidays? The state might be able to help ? by giving you back your own money.
Roughly $200 million that belongs to 914,110 Orange County residents, businesses and organizations is sitting in accounts with the State Controller?s Office. California is holding a total of $8 billion in unclaimed property that belongs to roughly 32.5 million people and organizations.
Accounts range from one penny to hundreds of thousands of dollars, with the average O.C. resident or agency in the database owed $218. Claims under $5,000 typically can be processed online in a matter of minutes, with checks mailed in under two weeks.
The money winds up in the state?s hands thanks to a 1959 law that requires companies to hand it over for safekeeping after there has been no customer contact for three years.
Despite the name, ?unclaimed property? does not apply to real estate. Some of the most common types of property that get shifted to the state are bank accounts, safe-deposit box contents, stocks, unused cashier?s checks, matured insurance policies, royalty payments and escrow accounts.
There?s no time limit on when people can claim their property, said John Hill, spokesman for the State Controller?s Office. But often the owner forgets those accounts exist or moves and doesn?t leave a forwarding address. And in some cases, the owner dies and relatives don?t know about the money, with a sometimes complicated legal process to prove who?s the rightful heir.
That?s the case with most of Orange County?s top 10 accounts, which total nearly $2 million.
At least six of the primary holders appear to have died, according to a public record search. That includes Komlenac, who died at 85, with his last known address in the gated community of San Joaquin Hills.
Two more of the top 10 county listings are defunct businesses, and the status of the other two people isn?t clear.
HARD TO TRACK
And that?s precisely why it?s so difficult to reunite people with unclaimed money, said Tony Yannizzi, who runs a business that offers to reunite people with their long-lost cash.
?It?s really hard to track people down,? Yannizzi said. ?It?s time-consuming.?
Yannizzi founded Red Hawk Investigation Group in Irvine after retiring as a Costa Mesa police officer. A year ago, he registered with the State Controller?s Office as an heir finder.
Heir finders ? also known as investigators and asset locators ? can pay the state a fee to receive a DVD with a searchable database listing everyone who?s owed money. They use that information to search for property owners, keeping up to 10 percent of any money they help recover.
Though he didn?t want to give an exact amount, Yannizzi said he has reunited residents with ?several thousand dollars? during the past year.
Yannizzi estimates nine of 10 people no longer live at the address listed on file. So he turns to the databases he uses in his work as a private investigator to find updated contact information.
Next, he sends a mailer introducing himself, listing how much money residents have coming to them and how much it would cost for Yannizzi to help them get it back.
?I have contacted thousands of people that have money owed to them,? Yannizzi said. ?A lot of people just don?t believe it.?
So he?ll go knock on the door.
?I find it?s better once you meet them,? he said. ?I let them know I?m real, this is not any kind of scam, and they can look up my website on the Internet. Then they usually get more excited.?
TRYING FOR 10 YEARS
Once when Yannizzi was scouring the database, he found a woman in his neighborhood who is owed more than $80,000.
?She told me she?s been trying to get it for 10 years,? Yannizzi said. ?She said, ?The state tells me I?m doing the paperwork wrong.??
Yannizzi told her he could file the claim for her and they could work out an agreeable recovery fee. So far, she?s refused, he said.
The woman is still in the database, accompanied by some well-known local names.
Half a dozen current or former members of the ?Real Housewives of Orange County? have money coming to them. That includes $55 Sears Roebuck owes to original housewife Jeana Keough and 440 in shares from RG Global Lifestyles that belong to Tammy Knickerbocker.
Sheriff Sandra Hutchens is owed $1.63 from American Express. Donald Bren, owner of the Irvine Co., is owed $12.28 from ADT Security Services.
Kevin Vann, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, is owed $246 from LandAmerica Financial Group, plus $21 from Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Unclaimed funds don?t get paid any interest. It would be meager on the amounts owed to most people (or anyone keeping it in a bank, for that matter). But for the 349 Orange County residents and businesses owed over $10,000 ? with some of those accounts dating back to 1988 ? they?ve missed out on significant potential earnings.
What makes that oversight even more eye-opening is that several public agencies and nonprofits have money in state coffers.
Anaheim has $34,193 in unclaimed property, including $10,607 in vendor checks from Clear Channel Holdings, a $5,000 money order from Wells Fargo and $400 from the Walt Disney Co.
When contacted about the funds, city spokeswoman Anna Ruiz said, ?Anaheim is in the process of collecting the unclaimed funds on the state controller?s website.?
Ruiz said Anaheim regularly reviews the website but applies to collect the funds only once a year.
?We?ve found this is the most efficient way of addressing unclaimed funds, rather than pursuing individual smaller amounts throughout the year,? Ruiz said.
The city with the second-largest pot of money waiting is Santa Ana, which is owed $6,887 from 46 sources, including $900 from payroll company ADP and $884 in escrow accounts from First American Title.
Nine school districts have more than $1,000 waiting for them. Huntington Beach Union High School District is owed nearly $18,000, and Anaheim Union High School District is owed $10,987.
NO TIME LIMIT
There?s no time limit on when agencies and people can claim their property, said John Hill, spokesman for the State Controller?s Office. In the meantime, Hill said the state uses those funds much the way a bank uses its customers? money: filling budget holes as needed and collecting interest on it.
Residents have been critical of the state in the past for not doing enough to reunite people with their money, with lawsuits triggering a number of changes to the system over the years.
Most recently, the state in early November increased the value of property that can be claimed online from $1,000 to $5,000.
For more complex cases, where heirs have to prove ownership or multiple names are tied to a claim, Yannizzi said, ?It could be a year to turn it around.?
Start now and even those complicated claims may pay out by Christmas 2016.
Staff writer Ian Wheeler contributed to this report.
Dec. 6, 2015 Updated 8:21 a.m.
By BROOKE EDWARDS STAGGS / Staff Writer
Do you have money waiting?
Search the state's unclaimed property database at:https://ucpi.sco.ca.gov/UCP/
Kobe Bryant has $232 coming to him.
The Samms family of Laguna Woods is owed $31,365.
And heirs of Gojko Komlenac, a Laguna Niguel man who died in 2006, can lay claim to $363,140.
Need some extra cash for the holidays? The state might be able to help ? by giving you back your own money.
Roughly $200 million that belongs to 914,110 Orange County residents, businesses and organizations is sitting in accounts with the State Controller?s Office. California is holding a total of $8 billion in unclaimed property that belongs to roughly 32.5 million people and organizations.
Accounts range from one penny to hundreds of thousands of dollars, with the average O.C. resident or agency in the database owed $218. Claims under $5,000 typically can be processed online in a matter of minutes, with checks mailed in under two weeks.
The money winds up in the state?s hands thanks to a 1959 law that requires companies to hand it over for safekeeping after there has been no customer contact for three years.
Despite the name, ?unclaimed property? does not apply to real estate. Some of the most common types of property that get shifted to the state are bank accounts, safe-deposit box contents, stocks, unused cashier?s checks, matured insurance policies, royalty payments and escrow accounts.
There?s no time limit on when people can claim their property, said John Hill, spokesman for the State Controller?s Office. But often the owner forgets those accounts exist or moves and doesn?t leave a forwarding address. And in some cases, the owner dies and relatives don?t know about the money, with a sometimes complicated legal process to prove who?s the rightful heir.
That?s the case with most of Orange County?s top 10 accounts, which total nearly $2 million.
At least six of the primary holders appear to have died, according to a public record search. That includes Komlenac, who died at 85, with his last known address in the gated community of San Joaquin Hills.
Two more of the top 10 county listings are defunct businesses, and the status of the other two people isn?t clear.
HARD TO TRACK
And that?s precisely why it?s so difficult to reunite people with unclaimed money, said Tony Yannizzi, who runs a business that offers to reunite people with their long-lost cash.
?It?s really hard to track people down,? Yannizzi said. ?It?s time-consuming.?
Yannizzi founded Red Hawk Investigation Group in Irvine after retiring as a Costa Mesa police officer. A year ago, he registered with the State Controller?s Office as an heir finder.
Heir finders ? also known as investigators and asset locators ? can pay the state a fee to receive a DVD with a searchable database listing everyone who?s owed money. They use that information to search for property owners, keeping up to 10 percent of any money they help recover.
Though he didn?t want to give an exact amount, Yannizzi said he has reunited residents with ?several thousand dollars? during the past year.
Yannizzi estimates nine of 10 people no longer live at the address listed on file. So he turns to the databases he uses in his work as a private investigator to find updated contact information.
Next, he sends a mailer introducing himself, listing how much money residents have coming to them and how much it would cost for Yannizzi to help them get it back.
?I have contacted thousands of people that have money owed to them,? Yannizzi said. ?A lot of people just don?t believe it.?
So he?ll go knock on the door.
?I find it?s better once you meet them,? he said. ?I let them know I?m real, this is not any kind of scam, and they can look up my website on the Internet. Then they usually get more excited.?
TRYING FOR 10 YEARS
Once when Yannizzi was scouring the database, he found a woman in his neighborhood who is owed more than $80,000.
?She told me she?s been trying to get it for 10 years,? Yannizzi said. ?She said, ?The state tells me I?m doing the paperwork wrong.??
Yannizzi told her he could file the claim for her and they could work out an agreeable recovery fee. So far, she?s refused, he said.
The woman is still in the database, accompanied by some well-known local names.
Half a dozen current or former members of the ?Real Housewives of Orange County? have money coming to them. That includes $55 Sears Roebuck owes to original housewife Jeana Keough and 440 in shares from RG Global Lifestyles that belong to Tammy Knickerbocker.
Sheriff Sandra Hutchens is owed $1.63 from American Express. Donald Bren, owner of the Irvine Co., is owed $12.28 from ADT Security Services.
Kevin Vann, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, is owed $246 from LandAmerica Financial Group, plus $21 from Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Unclaimed funds don?t get paid any interest. It would be meager on the amounts owed to most people (or anyone keeping it in a bank, for that matter). But for the 349 Orange County residents and businesses owed over $10,000 ? with some of those accounts dating back to 1988 ? they?ve missed out on significant potential earnings.
What makes that oversight even more eye-opening is that several public agencies and nonprofits have money in state coffers.
Anaheim has $34,193 in unclaimed property, including $10,607 in vendor checks from Clear Channel Holdings, a $5,000 money order from Wells Fargo and $400 from the Walt Disney Co.
When contacted about the funds, city spokeswoman Anna Ruiz said, ?Anaheim is in the process of collecting the unclaimed funds on the state controller?s website.?
Ruiz said Anaheim regularly reviews the website but applies to collect the funds only once a year.
?We?ve found this is the most efficient way of addressing unclaimed funds, rather than pursuing individual smaller amounts throughout the year,? Ruiz said.
The city with the second-largest pot of money waiting is Santa Ana, which is owed $6,887 from 46 sources, including $900 from payroll company ADP and $884 in escrow accounts from First American Title.
Nine school districts have more than $1,000 waiting for them. Huntington Beach Union High School District is owed nearly $18,000, and Anaheim Union High School District is owed $10,987.
NO TIME LIMIT
There?s no time limit on when agencies and people can claim their property, said John Hill, spokesman for the State Controller?s Office. In the meantime, Hill said the state uses those funds much the way a bank uses its customers? money: filling budget holes as needed and collecting interest on it.
Residents have been critical of the state in the past for not doing enough to reunite people with their money, with lawsuits triggering a number of changes to the system over the years.
Most recently, the state in early November increased the value of property that can be claimed online from $1,000 to $5,000.
For more complex cases, where heirs have to prove ownership or multiple names are tied to a claim, Yannizzi said, ?It could be a year to turn it around.?
Start now and even those complicated claims may pay out by Christmas 2016.
Staff writer Ian Wheeler contributed to this report.
