EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS, THEN WARN YOUR CLIENTS

[kcjenkins]

The Alarming Reason the Government Confiscated Money From a Member of Glenn Beck’s Staff

Jun. 17, 2014 5:00pm Erica Ritz

Let’s say you take out a safety deposit box for precious family heirlooms, or create a bank account for your children that you don’t make transactions with regularly. How long would it take you to realize that the government has actually confiscated your property, sometimes without even informing you?

That’s what happened to Glenn Beck’s chief of staff, Joe Kerry, and countless other Americans across the United States, many of whom are unaware that the state can legally take hold of your possessions if your account shows no signs of activity for a certain period of time.

The law varies state-to-state, but according to a 2008 report by ABC News, the waiting period used to be in the range of 15 years, whereas it is now usually closer to three. Why has the government lowered the threshold in so many places?

From the 2008 ABC report: “The 50 U.S. states are holding more than $32 billion worth of unclaimed property that they’re supposed to safeguard for their citizens. But a ‘Good Morning America’ investigation found some states aggressively seize property that isn’t really unclaimed and then use the money — your money — to balance their budgets.” [Emphasis added]

The Australian government recently lowered its own threshold from seven years to three, and according to the Herald Sun, nearly $360 million was seized from from roughly 80,000 inactive accounts over the past year. That’s reportedly more than the Australian government seized in the past five decades combined.

ABC, which wrote that states return “less than a quarter of unclaimed property to the rightful owners,” explained how the law affected one woman:

San Francisco resident Carla Ruff’s safe-deposit box was drilled, seized, and turned over to the state of California, marked “owner unknown.”

“I was appalled,” Ruff said. “I felt violated.”

Unknown? Carla’s name was right on documents in the box at the Noe Valley Bank of America location. So was her address — a house about six blocks from the bank. Carla had a checking account at the bank, too — still does — and receives regular statements. Plus, she has receipts showing she’s the kind of person who paid her box rental fee. And yet, she says nobody ever notified her.

“They are zealously uncovering accounts that are not unclaimed,” Ruff said.

To make matters worse, Ruff discovered the loss when she went to her box to retrieve important paperwork she needed because her husband was dying.Those papers had been shredded. And that’s not all. Her great-grandmother’s precious natural pearls and other jewelry had been auctioned off. They were sold for just $1,800, even though they were appraised for $82,500. [Emphasis added]

Beck said he was talking about the situation in Australia — unaware that the United States has similar laws — when Kerry said the same thing happened to him.

“I guess it was six months ago,” Kerry explained on Beck’s radio program. “[My wife, Melinda] was like, ‘Joe, we stopped getting the statements on this one account.’ And first she wanted to know if I liquidated the account. I assured her I had not. She’s like, ‘What happened?’ She started going through the statements, and on one statement, which was full of language, one sentence in one paragraph of that statement said, ‘If you have no activity on this account, we will close out this account…’”

Kerry, an attorney, said he didn’t understand how the account was considered dormant when dividends were paid into it, and they were paying taxes on the money the whole time.

“Never called you or notified you?” Beck asked.

“Nothing from the state,” Kerry responded.

Kerry said he and his wife even went to their state senator about the matter, asking why they were never informed that the funds were set to be confiscated when all of their contact information was accurate.

Kerry said they received an answer along the lines of: “Well, under this new law … you don’t log into this account in a six month period, that money is transferred to the state.”

Kerry said he eventually received confirmation that the money was transferred to the state, but that the state didn’t even seem aware of how much it had confiscated. “Our state senator is calling the, I guess, Department of Treasury at the Pennsylvania level, and they could not tell us where that money was, how much was taken, and how we would get it back,” Kerry remarked.

He said they were eventually able to figure out how much had been taken by looking at old statements, and were astonished when they found that the same thing had happened to a number of their neighbors.

“I talked to Melinda today,” Kerry concluded. “As of two weeks ago, the state of Pennsylvania has now started sending this money back.”

Beck was stunned that the American government can confiscate private property in such a way, saying “this is such a dangerous thing.” “It’s a shark bump,” Beck concluded. “If they can do this, they can do anything.”

[Max W]

The dividing line between freedom and tyranny gets blurrier every day.

Perhaps this was posted before, but just in case ....

http://www.ij.org/michigan-civil-forfeiture-release-9-25-2013

[kcjenkins]

Here's a follow-up on that case:

http://ij.org/michigan-civil-forfeiture-release-11-15-2013

Just hours after the Institute for Justice announced it was joining another civil forfeiture lawsuit in Michigan against the federal government, the IRS filed motions to voluntarily dismiss two forfeiture actions against innocent Detroit-area small-business owners. Terry Dehko of Fraser, Mich., and Mark Zaniewski of Sterling Heights, Mich., will each get back all of the money seized without warning from their business’s bank accounts (over $100,000 in total) by the federal government.

While today’s victories vindicate the property rights of Dehko and Zaniewski, they do not solve the nationwide forfeiture problem. As recently demonstrated in the New Yorker and The Economist, civil forfeiture is now one of the greatest threats to property rights in America today. A separate federal lawsuit filed in September by the Institute for Justice on behalf of Terry Dehko and his daughter, Sandra Thomas, seeks to reform civil forfeiture law to protect the constitutional rights of property owners. That lawsuit will continue.

“The IRS should not be raiding the bank accounts of innocent Americans, and it should not take a team of lawyers to put a stop to this behavior,” said IJ Senior Attorney Clark Neily. “We are thrilled that Terry, Sandy, and Mark will finally get their money back, but their fight does not end today. Our constitutional lawsuit against the federal government seeks to rein in the shameful practice of civil forfeiture.”

Civil forfeiture allows the government to take private property from Americans without ever charging them with, let alone convicting them of, any crime. Astonishingly, the proceeds of civil forfeiture are used to pad the budgets of the very agencies that seize the property. Even worse, when the federal government seizes cash—even your entire bank account—the law provides no prompt way to get a court to review the seizure. After seven months, Mark Zaniewski never received a hearing before a judge to contest the seizure of his property. Terry Dehko waited over ten months. The government never charged anyone in either case with any crime.

[Richcpaman]

KC:

These are two different types of cases. One is under the "Escheat" laws, and one is under the "Civil Forfeiture" laws. What happened to the folks in MI was a criminal act on behalf of the government. The fourth amendment has been blown out of the water with the newer "forfeiture" laws.... If the police can show that even a portion of the funds may have come from some sort of criminal enterprise, they can take your property....

Under the "escheat" laws, if an account has no activity for three years (in the Peoples State of Maryland), the account agent (Bank, Broker, etc) is to turn over the account to the state....

Here is the Peoples State of Maryland site for reclaiming the property: http://comptroller.marylandtaxes.com/Public_Services/Unclaimed_Property/

I can tell you that I got a phone call about a savings account at my local bank. It was attached to our personal checking account, it comes on the same statement and we used the checking account all the time, but I had $250 in the savings account and never did anything with it... They called and asked me "Are you going to use the account or should we close it, before we send the funds to the state?" I told them they were crazy... We USE the checking account, and we have 4 other accounts with you...

Crazy.

But, and I recommend this for all of you on this site, go to your states "Unclaimed Property" website with your clients, especially your older clients. I had one client find $11,000 from an insurance policy from his father, and another that had an investment account that had about $9k in it. One other client had his 16 and 18 year old daughters final paychecks from an employer on the site...

Rich

[Lion EA]

Our daughter found $1,500 in my husband's name and her name. Apparently a savings bond that hubby bought with college in mind when his daughter was born, and thought he'd moved all when his broker moved. Daughter's almost 27 and was checking the CT site for everyone she knew. We'd already put her through college, and would've welcomed the money to help us with college loan payments. But, since she found it, we're splitting it with her.

There was NO money in my name! But, do check every few years.

[Jack from Ohio]

I can tell you that I got a phone call about a savings account at my local bank. It was attached to our personal checking account, it comes on the same statement and we used the checking account all the time, but I had $250 in the savings account and never did anything with it... They called and asked me "Are you going to use the account or should we close it, before we send the funds to the state?" I told them they were crazy... We USE the checking account, and we have 4 other accounts with you...

I would IMMEDIATELY remove all money and business dealings with that bank. There are REAL banks/credit unions that understand who is the customer and also understand customer service.

We changed from a bank we had been with for 15 years over a check we received that bounced. Shortened story - - The person that wrote the check, brought us cash before the bank notified us. Score high integrity for that person.

2 weeks later, bank says check bounced and was processing it again. 4 weeks later, bank says all is well but only after we called. 8 weeks later, the bank hits our account for the returned check. This was 2006. The banks were both in our town. Currently we have NO money or do NO business with that bank.

Note: The bank said there was nothing they could do about their processes. I told the manager that I considered her answer the best example of male bovine scat I had seen to date. Then I went to the counter and cleaned out our accounts.

[Catherine]

<snip>

Note: The bank said there was nothing they could do about their processes. I told the manager that I considered her answer the best example of male bovine scat I had seen to date. Then I went to the counter and cleaned out our accounts.

Knowing you, Jack, you took all the funds out in CASH. (And which was completely justified - your money, your decision.)

[Jack from Ohio]

Knowing you, Jack, you took all the funds out in CASH. (And which was completely justified - your money, your decision.)

YES!!

They were scrambling to see if they had enough cash in the vault!! I made all my comments and request very loud so all the other customers heard what I was doing and why!!

The looks from the people working there were "special!"

[Gail in Virginia]

Reminds me of the time a tobacco farmer here went to the bank to cash his tobacco allotment check. The bank told him that they did not cash those type checks, but they would deposit it to his account for him. He very politely told them he would just cash it himself, to give him all of the money he had in his account. This was probably somewhere between 10 and 100 times what the check was for (depending on how his cash flow was running at the time.) Of course, they wanted to back up and do something different at that point, but he insisted on getting his cash out right away, and then went and opened an account at another bank.

Might be just a coincidence, but that particular bank is out of business and has been for sometime.

[kcjenkins]

I really do get sick of banks and other businesses that insist that "their policy" overrides the customer's RIGHTS. Rarely is it truly 'the law' that makes them delay your rights, it's usually just an excuse to make things easier FOR THEM. I cheer when such attitudes bring in competition that puts them out of business.

[JohnH]

I really do get sick of banks and other businesses that insist that "their policy" overrides the customer's RIGHTS. Rarely is it truly 'the law' that makes them delay your rights, it's usually just an excuse to make things easier FOR THEM. I cheer when such attitudes bring in competition that puts them out of business.

Sure wish a couple of the banking behemoths here in Charlotte would get that message.

So far, the two biggest ones are tone deaf.

Unfortunately it seems to be working quite well for them.

[Carolbeck]

Knowing you, Jack, you took all the funds out in CASH. (And which was completely justified - your money, your decision.)

That is why we only have accounts with a Credit Union. Have had our accounts with our Credit Union since 1988. I will not deal with any Banks especially Chase or BoA. They really do not want any personal accounts except to charge outrageous bank fees for every little thing. Our Credit Union has been great and especially with the home town touch. Personal attention and calls for any issues. Know us on a 1st name basis.

[GeneInAlabama]

I closed my account with a bank I had been using for years because they started charging me for deposits that I mailed in instead of bringing them to the bank to deposit. I am in a rural area and it is not convenient for me to go the bank every time I have a deposit to make. I am now using a credit union and am very pleased with their service.

[ILLMAS]

Who remembers when this happened?

[JohnH]

I have my personal accounts and much of our retirement account balances at our credit union.

If they offered business accounts, I doubt I'd be dealing with a bank at all, except for maybe a sweep account.

[Lion EA]

I bank with a state bank (well, now I guess it's regional) instead of the big national banks. Great service. Business account with no fees due to fewer than 200 transactions per month and a credit card and a debit card. (Also, have my personal accounts there and mortgages and loans and credit cards.) Deposit using my smart phone, so no travel involved. Also use their payroll service for one of my business clients.

Hubby was with a local credit union before I married him, town or school employees or something local. As they merged with other CUs and became larger, he was less satisfied with their services. He took out all his accounts a couple of years ago and moved them over to my bank.

[mcb39]

We moved EVERYTHING to our Credit Union as soon as they offered business accounts. We were paying fees for every little thing at the BIG bank. They made me so mad one time that I went in and paid off one of my husband's Partnership notes with my business funds and let them pay interest to me. Bank was not happy. Too Bad! Now CU accepts Partnerships.

[joanmcq]

I'm with a credit union too. My savings accounts are fairly dormant; one account for rentals only has the security deposits in them and so is rarely touched. I haven't had any notices of 'dormancy' from them.

A former coworker had an investment account escheated; it held Apple stock, and she was holding it for appreciation. The last I heard from her she was still trying to get it back.

[kcjenkins]

It's gone from a seldom-used remedy for truly 'abandoned' assets, to legal theft by government, IMHO.  At a minimum, the time frame should be longer than 5 years, and it should be a requirement that the banks, insurance companies, etc should attempt to contact the owners before turning anything over to the state, THEN, the state should be REQUIRED to have a reasonable and speedy system for returning seized assets to rightful owners.  The worst is when states sell family heirlooms when the same safe deposit box contains identifying documents, which they do not even try to track down.