PAYMENT PROCESSING

CS 625P Unclaimed Property

New 03/09/26 Training Completed 03/23/26 Last Updated 03/30/26

Utah Code 63G-2, 67-4a-501; 67-4a-502

 

 

Introduction

 

Accounts with financial institutions and companies that have not had any activity or contact with the owner of the account for a designated period of time become unclaimed property. Every U.S. state has statutes in effect that instruct financial institutions and companies to turn unclaimed property over to the state official; and, a program that attempts to locate the owners of abandoned funds and make the money available to the owner to claim.

 

The official site for the Utah Unclaimed Property Division is mycash.utah.gov. Per the mycash.utah.gov website, “most unclaimed property is money an owner has forgotten about, lost, or never even knew existed that remains in the possession of a holder (most often a large financial institution or other large business) for a period of years. Examples include dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, forgotten rent deposits, overpayment of medical or utility bills, and unclaimed life insurance policies.” This also includes funds that are owed to a parent, on a closed or closing child support case, that are unable to be disbursed. Unclaimed property is often referred to as “abandoned”, “forgotten”, “surplus” or even “excess” funds.

 

 

Requesting a Transfer of Funds to Unclaimed Property

 

A case must be open for a minimum of one year, or be in the process of closing for funds to be eligible to be transferred to unclaimed property. If funds appear on the funds remaining report and they cannot be disbursed to the parent owed or applied to an arrears balance, the funds need to be transferred to the Unclaimed Property Division. The Employer Agency Customer Services Unit (EACSU) is responsible for the transfer of funds to the Unclaimed Property Division under the name of the noncustodial parent (NCP).

 

While working the funds remaining report, the team that is assigned to the NCP’s case(s) is responsible to request a transfer of any unredeemed funds to the Unclaimed Property Division by sending an email. Include in the email the:

·                  Name and Participant ID (PID) of the NCP;

·                  Amount and date of the returned/stale dated refund check to the NCP; and,

·                  The most recent and appropriate event number. This number is not the stale dated transaction or original transaction event number. 

 

Add a detailed participant level narrative documenting the locate efforts and actions taken to disburse the funds to the NCP. Include the event number(s), the amount(s) and the date(s) of the event(s) the transfer request is for.

 

EACSU will review the email and verify that the funds meet the criteria, and that the appropriate narrative was added before initiating a Takeback of Abandoned Property (TBAP) in ORSIS to transfer the funds.

 

 

Transferring Funds to Unclaimed Property

 

Annually, in August, EACSU works two reports that identify all TBAPs that have been completed within the prior fiscal year. One of these reports identifies NCPs that have TBAPs totaling $50.00 or more in that prior fiscal year.

 

Per Utah Code 67-4a-501, ORS is required to notify NCPs that have funds of $50.00 or more that may be sent to the Unclaimed Property Division. The EACSU supervisor sends the “Unclaimed Property Due Diligence” letter to the last known address for the NCP by first-class mail. This letter states that the NCP has 30 days to respond and claim the funds.

·                  If the NCP responds claiming the funds, the EACSU supervisor will determine if the funds can be reposted into ORSIS and if so, issue a refund. The EACSU supervisor will monitor for this refund to be redeemed. If it is not redeemed, the EACSU supervisor will initiate another TBAP without team involvement, transferring the funds out of ORSIS and the process to transfer the funds to the Unclaimed Property Division will start again.

·                  If the NCP does not respond to claim the funds, the funds will be transferred to the Unclaimed Property Division by the annual submission deadline.

 

The deadline for ORS to send the funds through Vantage Finance to the Unclaimed Property Division is November 1st (or the first business day in November). However, the funds are typically transferred in the last week or two of October.

 

Although the letter states the NCP has 30 days to respond, the funds may be available for refund up until the date the funds are transferred to the Unclaimed Property Division. The TBAP takes the funds from ORSIS but they are still available to ORS until they are officially transferred to the Unclaimed Property Division in late October.

 

If the funds are still available to ORS, the funds may be reposted to ORSIS and refunded to the NCP. If the funds were not requested by the NCP and have already been sent through Vantage Finance to the Unclaimed Property Division, the NCP will need to contact the Unclaimed Property Division through the mycash.utah.gov website.

 

At any time, the NCP may be transferred to EACSU to determine where the funds are and for information on how to obtain them.

 

 

Annual Agency Funds Remaining Report

 

EACSU is tasked with working the annual agency funds remaining reports during the first quarter of each year. These reports include funds remaining that is more than a year old. There are two different reports.

 

While working on this report, EACSU coordinates with the regional QA’s as needed, when they need to reinstate a case to complete an action to resolve the funds remaining issue.

There are many actions that EACSU may take when working the report, such as:

·                  Refunding these payments to an NCP;

·                  Disbursing payments to a CP (possibly held up due to an ORSIS indicator);

·                  Transferring a payment to another case for the NCP, depending on the situation;

·                  Possibly identifying a misposted payment during this process, moving the funds accordingly;

·                  Reviewing some large payments that are intended to pre-pay support and may roll for years; These are left alone to continue to roll if this is confirmed with the agent or by reading the narratives; and,

·                  Completing a TBAP to transfer the funds out of ORSIS and potentially send to the Unclaimed Property Division at a later date. In these instances, EACSU will initiate a TBAP internally and it would not require the team to meet the criteria.

 

 

Collecting Funds from Unclaimed Property

 

Enforcement of a support obligation may include sending a levy to the Unclaimed Property Division to claim any funds owed to the NCP and apply them toward the NCP’s arrears balance. Unclaimed property is turned over to the State Treasurer’s Office, Unclaimed Property Division.

 

1.                    To find unclaimed property in Utah, conduct a free search on Utah’s official website for unclaimed property, mycash.utah.gov. The search must be conducted using the NCP’s name. In order to send a “Notice of Lien-Levy, Other Than Financial Institution” form, the following information must match exactly:

a.                The NCP’s name;

b.                The city and zip code shown matches an address listed on ORSIS; and,

c.                The NCP is the sole owner of the funds.

 

If the information above matches exactly, send the “Notice of Lien-Levy, Other Than Financial Institution” form to the appropriate location.

 

2.                    To find unclaimed property in other states, you may search missingmoney.com.

a.                The search must be conducted using the NCP’s name.

b.                If the search results in an exact match of the NCP’s name AND the last known address shown matches an address listed on ORSIS, you may send a “Notice of Lien-Levy, Other Than Financial Institution” form to the State Treasurer’s Office Unclaimed Property.