A $1.9M Estate In BC Is Unclaimed & Here's How To Find Out If It's Yours

There are millions of dollars worth of unclaimed assets in B.C., including a $1.9 million estate that is just waiting for someone to discover that they are the rightful owner — and it could even be you.

While suffering a loss can be tough, even if it's a distant relative, some people may be unaware that what they leave behind can change your life overnight, so it's worth checking this free online database to make sure.

The B.C. Unclaimed Property Society (BCUPS) website says that every year, "Millions of dollars go unclaimed in British Columbia," and they are the "lost and found" for those assets.

BCUPS searches for the rightful owners, and even got $717,209 in the hands of claimants last year — but received $4,070,621. That means a whole lot of money is left just sitting around.

How does it work?

You can search your name on the portal and claim ownership of the listed assets right on the website. Unclaimed property includes dormant credit union accounts, insurance payments, intestate estates, outstanding real estate deposits, unclaimed wages, court payments and overpayments to debt collectors.

A recent report from BCUPS says that the "largest dormant account in BC waiting to be claimed," is worth $1.9 million.

It seems as though the legal inheritors of this estate are totally unaware of it.

Apparently, it's not uncommon to be surprised by unclaimed money. The report says that a primary school teacher in Surrey, B.C., read about the BCUPS website and decided to check it out.

She happened to see her name on the website, with a claim amount beside it — but she brushed it off assuming it could not be her.

Then in 2020, her son finally also noticed her name and told her to look into it more. So, she contacted BCUPS, and they sent her the unclaimed funds from a decades-old credit union account she thought she had emptied and had forgotten about.

Who knows — it could be you next!