Treasurer returns missing money to rightful owners

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By NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star

The woman was in tears by the time state Treasurer Shane Osborn finished the telephone conversation.

She was a single mom of three.  She had just lost her job and Christmas was just around the corner.

Osborn was calling to tell her he had a $33,000 check for her — unclaimed property from her deceased mother. Her tears were from surprise and relief.  

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Shane Osborn

Shane Osborn

Handing out checks from the Unclaimed Property Division is one of the most fun things in his job, Osborn says.  

He’s been doing a lot of it this year.   

In 2007,  Osborn has returned more than $12.95 million to the rightful owners, topping the 2005 unclaimed property record of $9.5 million in refunds, according to Don Aguirre, communications director for Osborn.

And for the first time ever this year, the state is returning more money than it’s collecting from banks, insurance companies and other businesses.  Such businesses hand over  property whose owners haven’t shown up to claim it.  

The new record, says Osborn, is the result of more aggressive practices — staff actively searching for people, hiring a genealogy service and a collection agency to help find people.

Osborn also changed the style of the letter sent to the last known address of the property owner, switching from a plain jane letter that looked like junk mail to a personalized card that includes a claim form.

The response rate has risen from about 4.5 percent to about 12 percent.

“We are being proactive in trying to find people,” Osborn  said.

Many of the people whose unclaimed property — generally stocks, bonds, insurance policies, checking and savings accounts, and items left in safety deposit boxes —  are no longer living.    

So Osborn’s staff does a little sleuthing, looking for relatives.  

Staff used obituaries to track relatives of a woman whose Exxon Mobil stock went to Nebraska’s Unclaimed Property Division.  

The woman’s estate included a lot of stock that was divided among heirs after her death.

But the Exxon stock somehow got “lost in the shuffle,” said Rick Reitz, a treasurer’s office researcher.

Exxon held the stock for 30 years, then sent it on to Nebraska’s Unclaimed Property Division as required by law.  

The 9,106 shares of stock sold for $549,300, Reitz said.

Using an obituary and  city and county  property data, Osborn’s staff eventually located a great nephew in Indiana, who was an attorney.  

“He got the ball rolling to find the rest of the relatives,” said Reitz.    

Eventually about  10 heirs divided the money, said Reitz.     

After traditional search methods failed, a genealogy service helped find a woman who had about $65,000 from liquidated stock due her.

Women are often particularly hard to trace because they change their last name, said Reitz.  

The genealogy service tracked down the woman, an Arizona doctor who had studyied medicine in Nebraska.   

When contacted, the doctor said she had wondered where that stock had gone, Reitz said.    

Not every story is completely happy.  One widow was a little bit unhappy when she found out that she had another $100,000 coming from her late husband’s estate.  

“It was kind of a bitter-sweet reunion with this money,”  Osborn said.    

Partially because of his aggressive approach, Osborn has been elected  vice president of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.

Osborn also supports a federal law change, called Operation Rightful Owner,  that would require the government to report the names on old, unclaimed U.S. Savings Bonds, sold primarily during World War II.

Now, the bonds are recorded only by certificate number, he said.  Having names attached would allow relatives  to identify bonds purchased by people in their family.  

The treasurer estimates that about $110 million of the $17 billion in old bonds rightfully belongs to Nebraskans.   

Many people find their own lost money through lists available online or by calling the treasurer’s office.  The average claim is about $150, according to Aguirre.

Interest from the $85 million in unclaimed property goes to the permanent school fund, which is divided among school districts.  

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.