Unclaimed property may fall into your lap

Friday, March 28, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

You could be as lucky as the stunned Las Vegas resident who inherited $63,641 last year from the savings account of a deceased relative.

You could be one of 8,000 people the Unclaimed Property Division of the Nevada Department of Business and Industry has been trying to find since November.

Don't fret. This is one government agency you'd be eager to embrace.

"As a government agency we're probably the only one that gives something back," division administrator Steve McDonald said.

On Wednesday, the SUN will carry a 16-page pullout section containing the names and last known addresses of the lucky 8,000 heirs of unclaimed cash, stocks, mutual funds and other tangible property held by the state. If you see your name, call the division in Las Vegas at 486-4140 or toll free statewide at (800) 521-0019.

The division also provides more details of its activities on a computer website. The address is:

www.state.nv.us/busi_industry/up/

A 1980 state law requires that unclaimed money held for certain lengths of time be turned over to the state. This includes deposits held by utilities and paychecks from employers that haven't been claimed for a year. Also involved are stocks, bonds, bank accounts and dormant safety deposit boxes, many from individuals who are either dead or have moved out of town.

"We have people call who did not know a deceased relative still had property left," McDonald said. "Some people call just to help us locate an individual and say, 'I know that person. He lives in another state now.'"

The division has received unclaimed jewelry, gaming chips and Medals of Honor. Even false teeth, hearing aids and reading glasses have been found in safe deposit boxes turned over to the state.

"It makes you wonder what that person was doing who put them there," McDonald said.

Since the state law went into effect, McDonald's division has accumulated at least 80,000 heirs to unclaimed accounts. Some accounts are worth as little as one penny, and others as much as $1 million.

From 1980 through last June, the division collected about $50 million and returned $26 million. The division is funded from the interest earned by investing the unclaimed money, but the heirs never lose their rights to the principle.