BY JENNIFER PERYAM, Times-Union Staff Writer

There were 300 instances of unclaimed property in Kosciusko County totaling $117,358.63 last year, and Indiana's attorney general is encouraging Indiana property owners to claim it.

Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter was in Warsaw Tuesday to promote a public awareness campaign program - IndianaUnclaimed.com - to encourage property owners to claim their unclaimed property.

The campaign includes billboards, newspaper, television and radio ads informing property owners of the possibility of property they have that has been unclaimed.

An unclaimed property database can be searched 24 hours a day, seven days a week at www.IndianaUnclaimed.com

Carter said the Attorney General's Office returned more than $26 million to property owners last year, a $5 million increase from 2004.

"While a record $26 million was returned in 2005, the amount of new assets turned into the state for safekeeping is three times the amount that was paid last year," Carter said.

In the last several months, financial institutions and other holders have turned in more than $71 million to the state in inactive accounts or accounts in which the owner could not be located, he said.

Holders are required annually to turn over assets of accounts in which there has been inactivity for the last five, or seven years depending on the type of account.

This latest deposit with the state raises the total of unclaimed property to be claimed by its owners to more than $325 million.

There are approximately 70,000 unclaimed properties equaling nearly $13 million from 1998 to 2005 from the North Central Indiana region. Nearly 90 percent of these assets are unclaimed investment earnings, insurance proceeds and benefits, wages and savings and checking accounts.

Carter said unclaimed property also may include items from safe deposit boxes turned over to the state.

According to the statistics, Kosciusko County shows 6,749 unclaimed properties from 1998 to 2005 totaling $1,074,919.96. [[In-content Ad]]