State asks New Mexicans to recover $390 million in unclaimed property

The New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department is urging residents to see if they have a share of $390 million in unclaimed property the state is holding.

“The Taxation and Revenue Department wants to reunite owners with their lost property,” TRD Secretary Stephanie Schardin Clarke said Tuesday. “The holiday season can be financially stressful, and there’s no better time to check for unclaimed property to help alleviate some of that stress.”

Unclaimed property can include checking and savings accounts, stocks, uncashed checks, refunds owed by a credit card or insurance company, a renter’s security deposit to a landlord and the contents of a safe deposit box, according to a news release.

These assets are turned over to the state after a period of inactivity, which typically occurs when someone dies, moves, changes jobs or simply forgets about the property, the news release said. TRD then becomes responsible for managing the abandoned property and returning it to its rightful owner.

The department holds the property indefinitely until an owner or heir comes forward to claim it, TRD spokesperson Megan Gleason said.

TRD has handled 6,414 claims so far this year, paying out a total of $18.5 million, the news release said. The average payout for an individual claim is $500.

With billions of dollars in unclaimed property sitting in funds overseen by state governments across the nation, approximately 1 in 7 people has unclaimed cash or property waiting for them, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.

TRD’s unclaimed property fund grew this year as the amount of abandoned property coming into the state outpaced the property recovered by owners, Gleason said.

New Mexicans can check to see if they are the owner of unclaimed property and make a claim for free by visiting nmclaims.unclaimedproperty.com. The department has 90 days to respond to the claim and an additional 30 days to pay the claim.