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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | May 17, 2021 03:56 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Milou Mackenzie |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Unclaimed Property Update for Lineal Descendants |
| In the near future I will be introducing legislation to allow the Treasury to distribute unclaimed property if the value is $11,000 or less to lineal descendants. In recent years, we in the General Assembly have been actively publicizing the existence of the Unclaimed Property Bureau within the state Treasury with the intent to ease the re-capturing process for Pennsylvanians. Any financial asset with a bank, insurance company, or other business or organization that has been without activity or contact for a period of five years is considered unclaimed property that is then held by the Treasury. In order for an individual to retrieve this property from the Treasury, they must complete a simple claim form. Current law provides that when property is owned by an individual who has died and is in the custody of the Treasury as unclaimed property, the Treasury is permitted to distribute this property, if the value is $11,000 or less, to a surviving spouse, child, mother or father, or sister or brother of the decedent if a personal representative of the decedent has not been appointed or five years have lapsed since the appointment of a personal representative of the decedent. There have been many instances where grandchildren have been the individuals who discover the existence of unclaimed property after the death of a surviving spouse, child, mother or father, or brother or sister of the decedent. Because lineal descendants, such as grandchildren, are not currently included in this provision, they must go through the probate process in order to claim this property, which can be lengthy and costly. My legislation will allow lineal descendants to be added to the list of individuals eligible to claim a deceased relatives’ property being held by the state Treasury. These lineal descendants will be required to show that there are no other surviving relatives in the order of preference to be eligible to make the claim. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation to ease the recapturing provisions for unclaimed property for the descendants of a decedent. |
Introduced as HB1534