ABANDONED PROPERTIES

These are assets that include contents of a safe deposit box, life insurance policies, land, uncashed checks, mutual funds, bonds stocks and cash that were turned over to the government because of several years of inactivity. There are some states that hold these properties for a time, until the real owners and/or their heirs claim them in an indefinite time. On the other hand, there are also some states that take the property if it became dormant for a long time, in a process called "escheatment." The purpose of the Abandoned Properties Laws is to remove the liability from the asset holder.