Michigan is home to a lot of pop culture icons- the 'Motown' music label, Madonna ( hailing from Bay City), Diana Ross ( a native of Detroit), Eminem, Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger... the list of topnotch musical artists goes on. It's also home to the automobile capital of the world- Detroit, affectionately known to natives as Motor City (hence the term 'Motown') and 'The World's Cereal Bowl'- Battle Creek, MI which is homebase of the Kellog's company. Certainly, a lot of assets essential to American culture have come-out of the 'Wolverine State'. There are lesser-known assets in the state that even most residents don't know about though- hundreds of millions of dollars in Michigan unclaimed money! These monies are just sitting-around in the Michigan Unclaimed Property Department instead of in the pockets of the owners of the lost financial assets.

According to the State Treasurer's office, "The Michigan Department of Treasury has millions of dollars in lost or forgotten assets from dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, valuables left in safe deposit boxes and stock certificates. Because these properties were considered abandoned and unclaimed by the bank or company entrusted with them, they are turned over to the state, as required by law. The Michigan Department of Treasury is the custodian of these assets and returns them to their owners (or the owners' heirs) when they are rightfully claimed. "

The owners of Michigan unclaimed properties may have forgotten about their assets while moving to another city or getting new jobs. This is quite common in the fast-paced lifestyle we are all living now, and leaving behind things like forwarding addresses is quite common. Consequently, mailed checks and notices often don't reach the addressees and are returned to the sender (the IRS or businesses and financial institutions) where they stay until the 'dormancy period' passes, and law requires that these properties be turned over to the state. In Michigan this period is 5 years for most unclaimed funds.

All residents and former residents of the state should do a search for unclaimed money in Michigan- with hundreds of millions of dollars up for grabs, the odds are good that they may be owed money. It's quite surprising whose names have come-up on the missing money list. Aretha Franklin, Marshall (Eminem) Mathers, and even Domino's Pizza magnate Thomas Monaghan's names have showed-up on the Michigan unclaimed property owners list.

Since it is a 'custodian state', there is no time limit for Michigan unclaimed funds to be claimed. In a report on MI unclaimed property by ABC's WZZM 13, the Michigan State Department of Treasury's Gonzalo Llano said "The funds stay here forever until they are claimed by either the property owner or their heirs should the property owner be deceased," But don't you think the lost money would be more comfortable snug in their owner's pockets than dumped in some cold, dingy State general fund? Learn how to perform an exhaustive search, and locate all possible Michigan unclaimed money owed to you now!