State’s unclaimed property hits $93M

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Over $500,000 in unclaimed property is still held by the state for Weston County residents, according to Jeff Robertson, administrator of unclaimed property for the Wyoming Treasurer’s Office. 
“Property is turned over to the state when a business, agency or governmental entity owes property, typically money or securities, to someone and for whatever reason cannot locate the owner for a specified period of time,” says a state treasurer’s press release dated July 6 says. 
During fiscal year 2021, Robertson said, a total of $81,738.48 was paid to Weston County residents through 50 different claims. 
Of those claims, the largest amount returned to the rightful owners was $2,115.92, with 16 of the claims totaling over $1,000. 
Statewide, the office paid out a record breaking $7.423 million, approximately $2.3 million more than was paid out the previous year and a half-million dollars more than the previous record, according to the release. 
The largest of these claims, the release says, was more than $580,000 paid to a Sweetwater County resident. In addition, over 12 checks had a value of over $100,000, while 108 claims topped $10,000. 
With a total of $10.102 million added to the unclaimed property fund during the past fiscal year, the state is holding $93 million waiting to be claimed by the rightful owner. 
Of the $93 million, a total of 15,656 shares or securities totaling $543,910.72 are owed to Weston County residents. Of those properties, four are valued at more than $10,000, 79 properties are valued at over $1,000, and 15 of them are securities. 
The largest amount still owed to a Weston County resident is $26,053.88. 
According to Robertson, these properties will be held by the state until claimed by their rightful owner, which can be done through a seemingly simple process. 
“The money is not the state’s money – the state is only acting as custodian until the rightful owner comes forward,” he said. “If we have unclaimed property in your name, remember that it’s rightfully yours and we want to turn it over to you as quickly as possible.” 
“Whenever we locate someone who is owed a large amount of money, the No. 1 thing we hear is, ‘I had no idea this existed,’ or they had no idea the money was turned over to the state,” he continued. 
To see if you have any unclaimed property held by the treasurer’s office, Robertson said, it only takes a couple of minutes to go online to mycash.wyo.gov to see if your name, or a loved one’s, is listed in the database.
“There is a two-minute instructional video on the left side of the page that explains how to make and then complete the claims process,” the release says. “To make a valid claim, owners will need to provide information about themselves and may need to submit official documents. This could be as simple as a copy of a driver’s license if the property is in your name, but additional documents may be requested if you are claiming as an heir or a business.”