Every year the millions of dollars worth of unclaimed property is lost by Louisiana residents who don’t even know it.

You can easily check with the Louisiana Department of Treasury to see if you have any money just waiting for you to claim. You can check online or by contacting the Treasury Department by phone, mail or fax. Here is the contact information:

Online: http://www.treasury.state.la.us/Home%20Pages/UnclaimedProperty.aspx.

Phone: Toll Free: (888) 925-4127.

Mail: John Kennedy, State Treasurer, ATTN: Unclaimed Property Division, P.O. Box 91010, Baton Rouge, LA 70821.

You must show positive proof of your identity to claim your property. To do this, call the above toll free number and give your Social Security number to the operator who will check it against their records. The Treasury Department says under no circumstances will they give out your Social Security information.

If you have more than $1,000 in the claim, you must provide a notarized claim form. If you do not have printing capability, contact the Treasury Department and it will mail you one.

If you send in a claim form, you should provide a copy of your driver’s license or other identification and proof of your Social Security number. Additional proof of ownership may be required in some cases. Some examples are: proof of a previous address, verification of past employment with the holder or verification of accounts/business relationship with the older.

The legal heirs of a deceased person are entitled to claim the property. They require court recognized estate documents to prove heirship.

Normally it will take several weeks to process your claim. However, it may take longer on the volume of the claims being worked at the time yours is submitted.

Here is the amounts of unclaimed property in the Treasury Department from the six parish Southwest Louisiana area: Calcasieu, $13,603,939; Allen, $961,368; Beauregard, $1,615,118; Cameron, $423,973; Jeff Davis, $1,516,249; and Veron, $2,823,185.

Check for your unclaimed property today.(MGNonline)