CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The West Virginia Treasurer’s Office is encouraging current and former residents to check the state’s unclaimed property list to see if someone has left behind life insurance money.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports as of June, the Office’s Unclaimed Property Division received $16.4 million in life insurance proceeds for beneficiaries since 2012. The number was $3.8 million in 2012, which had occurred before a lawsuit that year challenged the practice.
In the lawsuit, the treasurer’s office claimed life insurance firms were either not paying beneficiaries their due proceeds or were failing to report the money as unclaimed property.
The state Supreme Court later ruled the death of the insured triggers a duty to locate beneficiaries or report proceeds as unclaimed.
Information on unclaimed property can be found at https://www.wvtreasury.com and missingmoney.com.
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Information from: The Charleston Gazette-Mail, https://wvgazettemail.com.
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