Nearly $1 million of unclaimed funds await thousands of past and present residents and businesses of Washington County.
From forgotten utility deposits to dormant checking accounts, the money is reported to the state from businesses and organizations that have lost contact with the owner.
Frequently, the owner has died or moved away, said Dennis Ginty with the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Unclaimed Funds.
“We live in a very mobile society,” Ginty said. “People move so frequently, they don’t leave forwarding addresses for their financial services. And when people pass away, family members are often unaware of where there money is.”
According to Ginty, there are 7,700 entries of unclaimed funds, totaling $910,723.70 in Washington County. To print the entire list would take 202 pages, Ginty said. He released a list of the top 25 recipients this past week. The local names range from active businesses such as the McClure-Schafer-Lankford Funeral Home to many citizens not listed in the phone book.
“It could be from a bank or estate,” McClure-Schafer-Lankford Funeral Home director Genevieve Schafer said. Her business on Fourth Street has three unclaimed entries totaling more than $13,000. Schafer said she knew of one $4,000 entry, but had trouble obtaining it. She said she would investigate the other two unclaimed funds.
More than 50 percent of the past year’s claims have come from the Ohio Unclaimed Funds Web site, Ginty said. Residents and business can search for the money by entering their names online at: www4.state.oh.us/com/unfd/qry1.stm. If unclaimed funds exist, online forms and instructions are available to request the money.
Entering the names of dead parents and grandparents on the Internet search can be beneficial, too.
“The next of kin can claim the money of the deceased with the proper paperwork,” Ginty said.
The largest amount of unclaimed funds in Washington County ($82,686.62) deals with the former Halwell Co. at Fleming Route 1. Stonebridge Operating LLC bought out Halwell and a spokeswoman said she was unaware of the unclaimed money. The company works with oil and gas wells. She said the owner was out on leave, and it was possible that the money got lost during the business takeover.
Another top entry of unclaimed cash on the list is that of a Belpre man convicted of an attempted rape in 1988. Eugene F. Tice was 67 in August 1988, when he was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for his crime. It is unknown where Tice ended up, but his more than $10,000 is likely a leftover bank account.
For the 2002 fiscal year, Ginty said Ohio paid out 44,451 claims totaling $35.2 million across the state.