Have you ever wondered what becomes of abandoned bank accounts and other financial assets whose owners (and relatives of said owners) can't be located? The Unclaimed Property Law requires businesses and financial institutions to hand them over to the government after a specific 'dormancy period'. These assets will remain in the care of the State Treasury until the rightful owners claim them.

The law also requires states to make efforts in reuniting the lost money with their rightful owners. Some states show more diligence than others when it comes to this and the state of West Virginia routinely places among the nation's top10 in rate of return, according to a recent press release by the State's Treasury Department.

Jubilant West Virginians all over the state have been receiving unclaimed property checks from financial assets they lost track of over the years. In Harrison county, a total of $193,563 has been returned to several residents of the state in less than 3 weeks- this according to a recent report. In Beckley, a total of $220,000 in Louisiana unclaimed money checks were handed-out, and an elderly South Charleston woman was given $23,000 worth of U.S. Savings Bonds that were in her deceased sister's name. "To receive $23,000 that you basically didn't know existed is quite nice," said Anne McConihay. "I had heard things about those bonds through the years but never saw any of them." said the 84-yar-old McConihay who also owned bonds bought by her father but doesn't exactly recall what became of them.

"Ms. McConihay's situation is a perfect example of why states should be given the responsibility of returning these bonds," noted State Treasurer Perdue. "This money belongs to people, not the federal government. And states already have the systems and expertise in place to complete this mission."

After receiving $117,000 from the State Treasurer's Office, Andy Bragg, of southern West Virginia Paving said, "We were very surprised when the State Treasurer's office called and told us they might have some unclaimed property that belonged to us."

Despite efforts of award-winning West Virginia State Treasurer John Perdue to reunite forgotten funds belonging to his state's residents however, there's still roughly $110 million waiting to be discovered in WV alone.

The West Virginia unclaimed money total is so large for the same reasons the national unclaimed money from lost assets has amassed to over $33 billion. According to State Treasurer John Perdue, unclaimed property can come from several sources- mostly because people just plain forgot about them. "They may have a paycheck coming to them that they didn't realize or some stock their grandparents purchased when they were a child and it was forgotten in a safety deposit box," Perdue says. "There are all kinds of unclaimed property examples where money was forgotten."

Whatever the reason, residents of 'The Mountain State' always need to do an unclaimed money search in West Virginia and other states. The easiest and most convenient way is to do this online with the aid of a legitimate unclaimed property expert who can teach you the proper methods of doing thorough and effective searches for your unclaimed money as well as pre-escheat property (lost assets not yet turned-over to the state).