Unclaimed Past
I was reading an article tonight at IndyStar.com about a woman who discovered she had some unclaimed dividends from stock she purchased back in the 1960s worth over $100,000 waiting for her at the Office of the Indiana Attorney General.
As such, I became inspired to search for unclaimed property belonging to members of my family. As it turns out, my paternal, long-dead grandfather has approximately $1,000 due him waiting to be claimed. Turns out it is some kind of cash dividend from Prudential Financial, Inc.
Grandpa has been gone for 25 years, but this unclaimed property wasn’t reported until 2003. It would be very interesting to learn the history of this case, but, in the meantime, all I can do is say, “thanks for helping us out, Grandpa,” and hope that I get some kind of finder’s fee from my folks for hooking them up with the cash. :-)
turingcub said,
August 31, 2006 at 1:23 PM
You’re lucky! I tried the same thing in Kansas and found out my grandfather, who died before I was born, was due about ten bucks from the local electric company for overpayment of a bill. In 1972. Like discovering an old letter that had been hidden for years in a desk, except it was just a scrap of administrivia. Poignant, all the same.
Matt B. said,
September 2, 2006 at 4:39 PM
Well, ten dollars is ten dollars, especially to someone like your grandfather who lived through the depression.