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Financial Wellness
Is Your Account at Risk?
Simple Steps to Avoid Escheatment
Prevent unclaimed property from being transferred to the government.
Though escheatment may sound like a complex legal term, understanding why and when it occurs can help keep your money secure. Essentially, escheatment is a legal process requiring financial institutions, insurance companies, and other entities to transfer dormant property to the state.
As a financial institution, we are required to follow the escheatment process as governed by state laws. The state of California requires bank accounts, safe deposit box contents, and official checks with dormancy periods of three years to be escheated. The rules and time frames for escheatment vary by state.
At CEFCU, before escheatment occurs, we make diligent efforts to contact account owners, sending multiple notices to the last known address and attempting other forms of communication. When these efforts fail, we must transfer the property to the state authority, which holds the funds for a limited period to allow the owner, beneficiary, or legal heir to make a claim.
Prevent Escheatment
Key steps to prevent escheatment of your accounts:
Update your contact information.
Make sure that all your financial institutions, insurance companies, and other entities holding your assets have your current address, phone numbers, and email. This helps ensure you receive correspondence or notifications regarding your accounts.
Keep accounts active.
Monitor all your accounts and prevent dormancy by regularly making simple transactions, such as a deposit or withdrawal.
Respond to notices.
You can search state databases for assets that might have been categorized as abandoned or dormant.
Check for unclaimed property.
You can search state databases for assets that might have been categorized as abandoned or dormant.
Create a will.
A valid will outlines your wishes on the distribution of your assets. Without a will, your assets may be subject to escheatment or probate.
Designate beneficiaries.
Ensure you have named beneficiaries for your financial accounts, insurance policies, and retirement plans. Provide as much contact information as possible for your selected beneficiaries — include social security numbers if available. Be sure to update your legal documents accordingly.
Inform your heirs.
Ensure your heirs are aware of your financial relationships. While you may not want to disclose the exact details of what they will inherit, it’s important they know which financial institutions you work with. This knowledge can help them locate and claim assets, preventing them from being lost or escheated to the state.
Introduce Them to CEFCU
We encourage you to invite your immediate family to join us and share why you’ve chosen CEFCU as your trusted financial institution. With our commitment to financial value, it’s no wonder why generations of members continue to extend the benefits of exclusive CEFCU membership to family. As member/owners, your family and beneficiaries alike can take advantage of the undisputed security and stability of your Credit Union long before they receive their inheritance.
Protect Your Assets
Each year, we must transfer funds from inactive accounts to the government — whether the accounts have been forgotten or beneficiaries are unaware of their rights. This loss can also affect those named in trusts and wills, especially when these documents are not regularly updated. Consequently, funds intended for beneficiaries may be turned over to the government through escheatment.
Escheatment is not limited to your savings account. Unclaimed property can include bank accounts, stocks, uncashed checks, insurance benefits, wages, contents of safe deposit boxes, and even real property. Remember, each state has different rules.
How to Reclaim Property
Our Financial Wellness article, What to Do If Your Property Is Escheated, if you need to reclaim escheated money. Make sure you’re in control of your financial future!
