(Part 2 of 2)

There are a number of kinds of accounts that can become unclaimed property if left dormant for a long enough time period, but the State Treasury's site lists the following as the most common: savings accounts, checking accounts, unpaid wages or commissions, stocks, underlying shares, un-cashed dividends, customer deposits or overpayments, certificates of deposit, credit balances, refunds, money orders, paid-up life insurance policies, un-cashed benefits checks, and gift certificates. Each of these types of accounts has its own individual dormancy period. In South Dakota, these periods range from 1 to 15 years, depending on what kind of property is being discussed.

While most citizens are totally in the dark about forgotten funds owed to people by the government, a few are aware of these funds. But even those that are aware usually have no idea how to correctly locate them and take back what belongs to them. For starters, just a few unclaimed search web sites have accurate records in their listings, and even less have remotely recently updated records. With millions being handed over each year, spread across thousands of accounts, the state simply can't update their listings in real time, leaving people searching listings that are often not complete. This problem is even worse when we take in to account the varying dormancy periods which means that getting no results on a given day might be misleading if a particular property isn't due to be handed over to the state for another year, or number of years.

The best way to ensure all potential lost assets has been located is to learn what expert searchers do to sidestep these, and quite a few other issues, and then use their strategies in your own searches.

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