State and federal agencies are holding billions of dollars in unclaimed property and missing money. States collected $22.8 billion worth of abandoned funds in a single year, of which less than $1 billion was refunded to lost owners or rightful heirs.

State unclaimed property statutes consider assets to be abandoned when contact with owners is lost - typically due to an unreported address change or the expiration of a postal forwarding order, name change after marriage or divorce, incomplete or illegible records, and, of course, after unreported death of the owner.

When owners or heirs fail to claim the money over a specified number of years known as the dormancy period, holders - including banks, brokers, employers and life insurance companies - transfer the funds to a government trust account in a legal process known as escheat.

Here this money awaits your claim, along with billions of unclaimed dollars held by government agencies themselves - including $16 billion in unredeemed savings bonds, $92 million in undelivered IRS tax refunds, and hundreds of billions of dollars in unclaimed retirement and social security benefit checks and entitlements.

Note that in addition to those that have neglected to claim assets to which they are directly entitled, millions of family members are unaware they’re eligible to collect unclaimed money and property owed deceased relatives, who passed on without leaving an updated will.

It is important that you make a proactive effort to claim this money, as most holders of unclaimed funds make virtually no effort to locate lost owners and heirs.

Claims can generally be made in perpetuity, but there are time limits on refunds of some types of missing money, so prompt action is advised.