According to news that broke in St. Louis, Missouri earlier this week, the state has over $1 billion dollars in money and property that's just sitting around owed to people who haven't claimed it.

Unclaimed funds are something a lot of people think about occasionally, but then they figure that it's all just a scam and they don't follow up to see if they're owed anything personally.

The fact is, however, most states are sitting on a ton of money and property that rightfully belongs to citizens, but since there is no government infrastructure to mail you insurance rebates, inheritance checks or to inform you of any property in your name, most people spend their entire lives not realizing that they have money or property in their name.

In this recent news story from Missouri, most of the billion-dollar pile the state is sitting on has to do with property.

Some of it is in the form of funds related to real estate properties; e.g. property tax rebates and homeowners' insurance rebates, and things of that nature.

But there's also a lot of stuff that's just personal property and not real estate. Collectible coins, sports cards, and other sorts of memorabilia are sitting around the state and just collecting dust. All told, Missouri estimates the $1 billion price tag is a current estimate of this property's worth.

Weird and Unknown Property Laws

There are a lot of different property laws in Missouri that people are unaware of. Despite what your impression of the government may be after seeing the federal government print over $7 trillion in debt notes (sometimes called "currency," believe it or not), and seeing how every state in the union mishandled their COVID relief money, there are various state government departments that will not squander your property.

Of course, they're not going to alert you to it or mail it to you, but they do hold onto it and will not destroy it or give it away. You just have to be sure to check.

It Differs State by State

If you're a resident of another state outside of Missouri, you should know that there is no guarantee that your state is holding onto money or property that's in your name. You need to understand that these are state-based laws and regulations, and thus they're independently voted on in all 50 US states.

While there are some different federal sources through which you can search for unclaimed funds, that's far different than a state search. Unclaimed things like insurance money, inheritance, property, and other personal things will always be based on the state in which you live and not controlled in any way by the federal government. You will only have to deal with the federal government when it comes time to pay taxes. Of course, then they're going to demand their share.

You should also understand that these claims are going to be entirely dependent on the state in which you lived when the funds or property became available to you. So, for instance, if you now live in Missouri but used to live in Ohio, you will want to search with Ohio for anything that may be lingering out there in your name. Missouri and Ohio aren't going to have some direct channel through which you can go. In other words, you cannot contact the Missouri office and expect them to find anything for your name based on something that may be in your name in Ohio. So, just keep that in mind when you go to search for unclaimed funds.

Overall, the average claim for any sort of money or property owed is only $300, so it's not as if people are finding out that their great aunt Sybil left them a fortune when she passed away. That's something that happens in the movies and very rarely ends up happening in real life. There are a few instances where inheritances are found, but they're typically very small. People who pass away and have money obviously have a lot of family swarming in to hopefully lay claim to it.

So, if you're currently a resident of Missouri or have ever lived there, it might be a good idea to check with the appropriate state office to see if you're owed any sort of property or have any unclaimed funds in your name. The likelihood is pretty slim, but it's free to check and if you do happen to be one of the lucky few, a few hundred dollars might really come in handy.