Fiduciary Duties – Locating the Assets

You are a recently appointed executor and your attorney informs you that you now need to prepare an inventory of the decedent’s assets along with the date of death values. If you are lucky, the decedent kept meticulous financial records that you were able to find. The reality is that very few people keep such records and if they do, you may not be able to access the information (assuming that the information is on computer and password protected).

As executor you will want to have the mail forwarded to you and this is a good way to discover information; however, more and more people are going the paperless route. Another obvious place to look is in the decedent’s home. If you can, you will want to see if there are any computer records. Income tax returns are always a good source of financial information.

Even if you are thorough, it is not uncommon that an asset may turn up after you have filed your inventory. Fortunately, it is easy to report a newly discovered asset. Finally, our office as a routine matter when we open estates, always checks for unclaimed funds in the states where the decedent spent time.

The Ohio Supreme Court Rules Unclaimed Funds + Interest

The Columbus Dispatch reported this morning that the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously ruled that The Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Unclaimed Funds is not permitted to withhold interest on unclaimed funds accounts.

The Department of Commerce has been withholding interest for the past 18 years.  In 1991, the Ohio legislature ended the practice of paying interest and added a 5% administrative fee.

The Ohio Supreme Court summary indicates that the withholding of interest is a violation of property rights.  The department currently holds approximately $1.2 billion in unclaimed funds.

Lost Money, Now Found

Do you ever check the Department of Commerce’s Division of Unclaimed Funds to see if it is holding your money or your clients’ money?  According to its website, the division has more than 3,200,000 accounts worth over $1,000,000,000 in its custody.  It takes less than five minutes to search for any unclaimed funds.

Want to impress your clients?  Have your secretary check the names of your clients.  Your client would love to receive a letter stating you uncovered an unclaimed fund.

If you reside outside of Ohio, you can locate your state’s website by checking www.naupa.org.  Happy hunting.