Considering that the Department of Finance's Division of Revenue took in over $364.9 in Delaware unclaimed money in 2006 alone, it's a safe assumption that the state has many more hundreds of millions, if not over a billion dollars in lost money, that belongs the regular citizens who just need to step forward and claim it. There are tens of billions in forgotten money nationwide, but Delaware houses a disproportionately large share because it is home to so many corporate headquarters.

Aside from issues of not knowing where and how often to search, most Americans don't realize that they could be owed DE unclaimed property even if they've never lived in or been to the The Small Wonder. Over the years Delaware has become the go to state for planting a company's headquarters. When companies have locations and branches in other states, unclaimed paychecks won't be handed over to the treasury departments of those states, they will be reverted to Delaware. For this reason, a citizen looking to track down missing money would find no record of their fund in their home state, and would likely never check Delaware's records.

In addition to non-Delaware residents potentially finding unclaimed money in Delaware, Delaware residents may be owed cash from other states. For starters, there are plenty of companies that are incorporated in other states that have employees in DE, but there are other reasons, such as insurance overpayments, that might leave a Delaware resident's abandoned funds stuck in another state.

Once people become aware of unclaimed money, and even after they realize that they could be owed money from multiple states, they tend to do one quick search and think whatever the search results say is the end of the story. Sadly, not all unclaimed money sites are the same, and there is no one search that checks the records of all states. Even when you break it down to the state level, the records are often very unreliable because they aren't updated in real time.

Each state has its own laws dictating when forgotten money must be turned over to the department that handles these types of assets in that state. And each type of asset (dormant bank accounts, lost or forgotten uncashed checks, stock or bonds, dividends & bond interest, insurance proceeds, utility refunds, safe deposit box contents, etc.) has its own unique dormancy period, which is the time that must pass before the funds are considered "unclaimed". For this reason, different money is turned over to each state all the time, and the states update their records whenever they find the manpower and time to do so. For these reasons, anyone serious about tracking down all possible money claims must search regularly, and learn where to search and where not to search.

These issues, among others, can seem overwhelming to a frustrated beginner in unclaimed asset searching, but searchers can now use guides created by experts in the field to jump the hurdles that usually plague rookies. For those who think they can handle their money better than their state treasury department, you owe it to yourselves to educate yourselves on the best ways to search and get started ASAP.