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Schools gain from unclaimed safe deposits Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Unclaimed items in safe deposit boxes do not become the property of the bank as some might think. They go to the Division of State Lands, which holds the property indefinitely, but is free to invest it and use the earnings to boost state funding for schools. A Medford bank manager says valuables abandoned range from personal mementos such as yellowed love letters and pictures of relatives to stocks, bonds and cash. State takes custody, uses investment earnings for students By SHARI DOWNHILL Forgotten or abandoned bank safe-deposit boxes yield the strangest things. Sometimes sentimental - yellowed love letters, photos of great-grandparents, inaugural ball invitations, birth certificates and marriage licenses. Often valuable - stocks, bonds, cash, gold and silver. And occasionally, just plain weird - a dog's paw, illegal drugs, a blue glass eye, antique handcuffs and an artificial leg. Anne Mourning has seen just about everything after 20 years of opening and inventorying the contents of unclaimed safe-deposit boxes. As U.S. Bank's Medford main branch manager, Mourning is part of a team that inventories and transfers abandoned safe-deposit box property to the Oregon Division of State Lands. Web site helps claims The Oregon Division of State Lands maintains a Web site on which Oregonians can search to see whether they or family members are due property considered unclaimed. The site is at http://statelands.dsl.state.or.us/upabout.htm . "It's sad when people die and nobody knows that stuff is there," Mourning said. "People also just move away and forget they have these things." Holders of unclaimed property, including banks, insurance companies, Realtors, and undertakers, must make a reasonable effort to locate the property's rightful owner, said Silvia Tillitson, property trust manager for the state's unclaimed property program. If owners cannot be found, the law requires the property be turned over to the state, not kept as default income. "We need businesses ... to know the process and procedures of (the unclaimed property program)," Tillotson said. "They're legally bound to work with us when there is unclaimed property or an estate with no heir." Charged with the safekeeping of abandoned goodies, the Division of State Lands attempts to track down and notify the property's rightful owners. A Web site allows the public to search by name to see if treasures await. Banks take control of safe-deposit boxes only after failing to locate owners for two years, Mourning said. Once in the possession of the Division of State Lands, the property is eventually auctioned, with the proceeds held indefinitely in care of the owner or beneficiary. But the money doesn't sit stagnant, Tillotson said. It is invested, with the investment income distributed to Oregon's public schools via the Common School Fund. More than $70 million was distributed to schools during the last two years. The Common School Fund peaked in August 2000 at $842 million, but sank to $783 million by the end of 2000. The fund consists of revenue generated from other activities in addition to the unclaimed property program, including management of state-owned rangelands and timberlands, and waterway leases. The concept underlying abandoned property law can be traced back to British common law, when abandoned land was returned to the king as a matter of right, said state lands spokesman Monte Turner. The permanent transfer of property rights to the king was called escheat. In the United States, where the concept has been adapted to apply to intangible personal assets such as salary checks, bank account balances and securities, the states receive the property. States do not take permanent possession but act as custodian of the property in "perpetuity" - or indefinitely - on behalf on the property's rightful owner, Turner said. Virtually every company has abandoned property and is required to file reports annually with the states. Industry experts estimate the $3 billion remitted to the states each year is a small percentage of the actual property considered abandoned. Reach reporter Shari Downhill at 776-4463, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.