Law change means North Dakotans may see unclaimed property checks in their mailboxes

BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — North Dakota can now send lost money back to owners through the mail.

The state is the custodian of roughly $140 million to $150 millions of dollars in abandoned funds, by Unclaimed Property Division Director Susan Sommerfeld’s estimate.

Money can become unclaimed properly if it sits untouched for a certain period of time — like if someone fails to cash a check or forgets about a bank account, for example. If the business holding the money cannot get in touch with the owner, it must turn the funds over to the state.

The state hangs onto the unclaimed property in hopes that it can eventually return it to its rightful owner. So far the state has returned more than $128 million in unclaimed property, according to the division.

Usually, the owner has to file a claim to get their money back and provide enough information to prove it’s theirs.

But under a recent amendment to state law, the Department of Trust Lands’ Unclaimed Property Division now has more authority to waive that requirement.

This has enabled the division to test out a new program to return some money by mailing checks to owners.

“It used to be too doggone hard for people to get their money back,” Sommerfeld said. “But it’s not anymore.”

This simplified approach is only available in certain circumstances, Sommerfeld said.

For one, the division has to make 100% sure it’s certain it’s sending the money to the right person and the right address, she said. The agency uses databases to verify this information.

At this time, the state is also only mailing checks for unclaimed property valued between $50 and $1,000.

“We wanted to make it enough so that people would want to cash that check, but not so much that it looks fake,” she said.

The division has already sent out letters to its first set of owners notifying them that they have unclaimed property and to be on the look out for money coming via check in early December.

Even for those ineligible to receive a check in the mail, these days it’s generally fairly easy to get money back, Sommerfeld said.

“When I started in this unclaimed property world, every single claim that we had had to be on paper, and it had to be notarized,” she said.

North Dakotans can check if they have unclaimed property and file claims at unclaimedproperty.nd.gov.

In instances where a claim is required, owners may need to provide additional information. Depending on the situation, that could include ID, proof of their address, a Social Security number and potentially proof that they did business with the company that previously held their money, Sommerfeld said.

While in the hands of the state, the money is invested in the Common Schools Trust Fund, which funds K-12 schools.

North Dakota Monitor reporter Mary Steurer can be reached at msteurer@northdakotamonitor.com.