In going over some old family papers, we have located some uncashed
dividend checks for my wife's late uncle (Metropolitan Life account
from 1970s) and late grandmother (Bank of America dividend checks from
late 1950s). In addition, we know that the late uncle inherited some
stock when the late grandmother died -- 1 share of Bank of American, 9
shares of Transamerica and 40 shares of something called Conservative
Credit System. We have no certificates, and we frankly don't know if
he cashed them out at some point.

So, I'm trying to determine two things:

1) Can we get the money from the unclaimed checks? Admittedly, the
amounts are minimal. (Although if interest were added in from the time
they were originally written, it would amount to a few hundred
dollars.) It might be the checks were written after both of them died.

But more importantly...

2) How can we determine if the stocks and Metropolitan Life accounts
are still valid and unclaimed? When the late uncle died -- in the
1970s -- he was pretty much out of touch with the family, so we don't
believe he would have left any will. Our concern is that he died
without knowing he had these stocks or without doing anything to pass
them on.

There are almost no other surviving family members -- my wife's
parents are both deceased; she has a brother who may still be alive,
but we don't know where he's located at this point.

Can someone help?

---

Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 06 Jul 2005 22:09 PDT

Have you tried this?

This is a state sponsered database.

NAUPA website
http://www.unclaimed.org/mainframe.asp?VisitorType=owner
..."Free national search site to reunite you with your unclaimed property
maintained by the state officials who are safeguarding it...." 


No kidding, I found money for myself, my sister, my step-mom, and
several friends. Only one amount was substantial, but I was shocked at
the sheer number of hits.

~~Cynthia

"no kidding!"
And I found $ 288 in mine  8-D

Thank you, Cynthia!  You are going to have started a run on that site.
Myoarin


But back to the question:  Finding something in the uncle's name will
still present the problem of proving a right to claim it.

No you can not get the money from the uncashed checks.  These items
were closed on the company's books a long time ago.

Your first step should be to check with the county courthouse probate
court for the city where he died to make sure whether any type of
probate action was done regarding his estate and then if there was to
review the file to see exactly how the estate was handled and whether
these stocks are mentioned on record at the time of death.  And also
looking at the grandmother's file.

4KEITH (I'm NOT a GOOGLE Researcher)