SACRAMENTO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 The California State Controller\u2019s Office is sending letters to about 130,000 Californians who may be owed money through the state’s Unclaimed Property Program.<\/p>\n
State Controller Malia M. Cohen announced the outreach effort Thursday, saying the program is designed to help reunite residents with lost or forgotten funds more quickly and easily.<\/p>\n
The letters are being mailed to people identified through a partnership between the State Controller\u2019s Office and the California Franchise Tax Board. By matching unclaimed property records with state tax records, officials said they can notify potential owners directly rather than requiring them to search for funds on their own.<\/p>\n
Recipients who receive a letter do not need to search the state’s unclaimed property database or submit a traditional claim. <\/p>\n
Instead, they can use a unique claim code included in the notice to verify their information online and complete a simplified claims process.<\/p>\n
“These funds belong to Californians, not the state,” Cohen said in a statement. “By using technology and available data, we are making it easier, faster and more convenient for people to recover money that is rightfully theirs.”<\/p>\n
California’s Unclaimed Property Program holds financial assets that have been turned over to the state after periods of inactivity. <\/p>\n
The property can include dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, insurance payouts, stocks, dividends and other financial assets. The state keeps the funds until they are claimed by their rightful owners or heirs.<\/p>\n
Officials said the latest effort follows a similar initiative launched in December 2025. <\/p>\n
During that campaign, more than 100,000 letters were mailed and more than $30 million in unclaimed property was returned to Californians.<\/p>\n
People who receive a notice are encouraged to review the information carefully, visit the website listed in the letter, enter their claim code and follow the instructions to verify ownership. <\/p>\n
Eligible claimants can expect to receive a check in about two weeks after completing the process.<\/p>\n
The Controller’s Office is also reminding residents to be aware of scams. Official notices will identify the California State Controller’s Office and direct recipients to ClaimIt.ca.gov. <\/p>\n
Officials emphasized that Californians never have to pay a fee to claim property directly from the state.<\/p>\n
Residents with questions can contact the State Controller’s Office Unclaimed Property Division at 1-800-992-4647 or search for additional unclaimed property through the state’s website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 The California State Controller\u2019s Office is sending letters to about 130,000 Californians who may…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-347483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}