By Ron Estes

One of the many important responsibilities of the State Treasurer’s office is to return various forms of unclaimed property to the rightful owner or heirs. My office is currently safeguarding over $220 million worth of unclaimed property. I take this responsibility very seriously and will strive to return as much money to the hard working citizens of Kansas as possible. In these tough times when family budgets are tight returning Kansans’ property is more important than ever.

 

As a part of my “Unclaimed Property Returns” tour I recently traveled throughout western Kansas making 14 stops in 14 different counties. We stopped in Elkhart, Johnson City, Lakin, Syracuse, Tribune, Leoti, Scott City, Dighton, Ness City, Hoxie, WaKeeney, Stockton, Osborne, and Beloit. We did nearly 1300 searches and printed over 300 claim packets! In one case we returned money in which the company first tried to mail it in 1979 and turned it over to my office a few years later. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction that after 30 years we were able to finally return it to its rightful owners. We also helped a family make a claim on their lost oil royalties and other properties totaling more than $18,000 which were lost around the time of a death in the family.

 

I am amazed by the outpouring of support I received in these communities. It was encouraging to see Kansans helping their friends and neighbors. At every stop we had one or several individuals more than willing to go through their city and county unclaimed property lists and help us track down the rightful owners.

 

Since many companies have been established to scam citizens into paying to search for their money it is important for me that my office provides opportunities to look Kansans square in the eye while in their communities and help them reclaim their property. This is in addition to our website, www.kansascash.com, and toll free 800-432-0386 number.

 

Again, thank you for giving me the opportunity to work for you and for our state.