the years progress and as revenues from State taxes decrease, the Government is looking for new forms of income to help offset the lower receipt of taxes. One of the more popular forms and least burdensome on taxpayers is that of unclaimed property, which amount to millions of dollars in state accounts. The rules of handing over unclaimed property by various institutions are getting stricter all the time, says Edward Palonek, founder of foundmoney.com, the first company to make unclaimed records available for online searching back in 1995.

In the State of Kansas, a small sample of some of the more popular classifications and rules of what is unclaimed property and when a property is presumed abandoned if it is unclaimed by the owner during the time set time period are as follows:  

(1)    Traveler's check, 15 years after its issuance;
(2)    money order, seven years after issuance;
(3)    stocks or dividends, 5 years;
(4)    a demand, savings or time deposit, five years after the earlier of maturity;

(5)    money or credits owed to a customer from a retail business transaction, five years;
(6)    amount owed by an insurer on a life or endowment insurance policy or an annuity that has matured or terminated, three years after the obligation to pay;
(7)    property distributable by a business association or financial organization in a course of dissolution, one year after the property becomes distributable;
(8)    property received by a court as proceeds of a class action, and not distributed pursuant to the judgment, one year after the distribution date;
(9)    property held by a court, state or other government, governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality, one year after the property becomes distributable;
(10)    wages or other compensation for personal services, one year after the compensation becomes payable;

(11)    deposit or refund owed to a subscriber by a utility, one year after the deposit or refund becomes payable;
(12)    property held by agents and fiduciaries in a fiduciary capacity for the benefit of another person, five years after it has become payable or distributable;
(13)    property in an individual retirement account, defined benefit plan or other account or plan that is qualified for tax deferral under the income tax laws of the United States, three years after the earliest of the date of the distribution;
(14)     property distributable in the course of a demutualization, rehabilitation or related reorganization of an insurance company shall be deemed abandoned:
(A)    Any check or draft, two years after the date of the;
(15)     all other property, five years after the owner's right to demand the property or after the obligation to pay or distribute the property arises, whichever first occurs; and

(16)      any proceeds of a sale pursuant to K.S.A. 58-817, and amendments thereto, which remain after satisfaction of the lien provided by K.S.A. 58-816, and amendments thereto, that have been unclaimed by the owner for one year from receipt of the proceeds of the sale and satisfaction of the lien.
(17)     At the time that an interest is presumed abandoned under subsection (a) any other property right accrued or accruing to the owner as a result of the interest, and not previously presumed abandoned, is also presumed abandoned.
“The above is just a small sample of how the State of Kansas classifies what is unclaimed property, further details can be found at their site”, says Palonek