Life gets busy with work and family. Sometimes you get so distracted trying to make money and provide for you and your loved ones that you lose track of where all of your cash is going. You forget about an account, neglect to cash a check, overpay a bill, or even pay a bill twice. It can—and does—happen to anyone. But that extra money isn’t gone for good. It doesn’t disappear into the void nor does it stay with the bank or intended payee. Instead, the errant assets end up at the state treasurer’s office. And you can get it all back. The Massachusetts Department of the State Treasurer’s Unclaimed Property Division is currently holding over $3 billion in unclaimed funds for citizens and businesses of the Commonwealth. The Division holds these lost moneys until they are claimed, either by their original owner or, if necessary, by one of the owner’s heirs. Claiming that property is fast, easy, and, most importantly, free. First you might be wondering exactly how the government got this money. Unclaimed property is any financial asset, not counting land or real estate, that has gone without customer-generated activity for an extended amount of time. This includes savings and checking accounts; unpaid wages or commissions; uncashed insurance proceeds; stocks, shares, and uncashed dividends; customer deposits and overpayments; certificates of deposit; credit balances and refunds; money orders; life insurance policies; uncashed benefit checks; and accounts payable checks. In Massachusetts, this property is classified as unclaimed when the party holding the asset in unable to contact the owner for three years (or fifteen years in the case of traveler’s checks). State law requires businesses and other parties to review those unclaimed assets every year and turn everything over to the state. But if you lost track of the money in the first place, how are you supposed to know if you have any unclaimed money to collect? Easy. Just go to findmassmoney.com. There you can type your name or the name of your business into the online form and see if you have any unclaimed property valued at $5.00 or above (for a search of assets valued below $5, you can call into the customer service line). If your name appears in the database, your next step is to get in touch with the Unclaimed Property Division by calling 888-344-MASS, emailing unclaimedproperty@tre.state.ma.us, or visit findmassmoney.com. All you’ll need is your name as it appears on the online list, a current address plus any prior addresses and your social security number. And if you don’t find your name, check back soon—the treasury releases a new list of names every six months. The best part is that there is no charge to you—this is a free public service. There is no time limit to file a claim once you find your name on the list, and all funds earn interest until claimed. So go on, even if you’re pretty sure you’ve got your finances all in order, it never hurts to look. Who knows? You might some lost money just waiting to be claimed. Who couldn’t use a little extra cash. Besides, it belongs to you.