“LOST MUSKET DIARY” Friday September 5, 2014
Mostly Sunny 81F/27C in Rancho Las Musket
Buongiorno,
I’ve been slogging through a
mountain of minutiae during the past week, and, it’s really bogged down my
blogging. Essentially, nine months after my Rome adventure and my move back to
Southern California, I’m still settling in and sifting through all of the
belongings I have in storage and working very industriously to cull out and
decide what I want to keep. Normally, I wouldn't think to burden friends with
the details of my personal housekeeping, but there is one item I will pass
along because others may benefit from my experience.
Some months ago, during a
conversation with my cousin Nancy, she mentioned that her son-in-law did
frequent internet searches on sites maintained by government agencies who were
searching for people who had money owed them. It seems that money left in bank
accounts that have been abandoned, or insurance benefits that intended for
beneficiaries who have not been located is eventually turned over to the State Controller
or Treasurer. My cousin told me that one such search of the New York State
Controller’s Unclaimed Property web site had turned up my father’s name, and
she suggested strongly that I look into it, which I immediately set out to do.
Nancy had given me the web site
that I needed to go to- https://www.osc.state.ny.us/ouf/
- and, “Bingo!” The Yellow Brick Road lay straight ahead. New York State
Controller Philip DiNapoli has a whole section of his bureaucracy whose sole
job is finding people and giving away money. So far in 2014, the State of New
York has connected more that $270 million dollars with people who probably didn’t
know that they had it coming to them. And it’s not taxpayers’ dollars either.
It’s money that people earned and put away for a rainy day either in a bank or
insurance policy and then lost track of it. Or they made an investment and
forgot to mention it in their will. Or they died without a will and didn’t name
any heirs. There are lots of reasons why people lose track of money. So, I did
my search on the Controller’s web site and guess what? My father’s name showed
up in capital letters.
Charlie Botula died suddenly in
1965 at age 57. My mom, Mary, had passed on four years before. I had gone to
Arizona and had just gotten married. My brother, Charles, was in college in
Buffalo, New York. So, my dad was a widower, living alone but just starting
into a new relationship with a longtime family friend who had also lost a
spouse. Believe me when I say that there is no greater emotional body-slam for
a young person than the death of a parent. My dad’s passing meant that my
brother and I had experienced this with both parents, four years apart. In
addition to all of this, I couldn’t just be a bereaved son through all of this,
because Charlie Botula had named me as Executor of his estate which meant that
I would be tasked with some very important family decisions. I’d say, as I look
back over the past fifty years that I did make the right ones. And, now, after
nearly half a century, I discovered that my job as his Executor is not over
yet.
Mr. DiNapoli does not simply hand
out money. You have to prove that you are rightfully entitled to collect it.
The paperwork is very demanding and very specific. And, there’s no guarantee
that you’ll convince his flinty bureaucrats with the first submission of your
claim. Once upon a time I had a bulging file of documents relating to my father’s
small estate, and could produce any required documentation at the drop of a
hat. But, no longer. Since then, I’ve been married and divorced twice, and moved
a dozen times. Most of dad’s contemporaries are also gone. His oldest son is
now a 70-something and retired after his own long career, no longer the 25-year-old
who’s just adjusting to adulthood. So,
where do I start in completing this unfinished task?
A successful claim of this kind
requires documentation of the people involved and the connections. In my case I
had to obtain the required documents to prove: that the person who left the
money is really the right person and that I, as the claimant, in entitled to this
unclaimed asset. This took some time to do. First, I had to obtain a certified copy
of the death certificate. Then I had to provide a copy of my own birth
certificate to show that he was legally my father. Then I had to validate the
fact that he lived at the address connected with the asset in question. That
was problematic, because some long ago clerk had mis-typed the street number.
So, I had to write a letter of explanation and include an old US Navy document
with our correct address back in New York. I also had to track my dad’s family
and list his brothers and sisters. Thank God, I had a copy of my grandfather’s
Petition for Naturalization dated 1909. It listed parents and children with
names and birthdates of the whole family. I did have to explain in my cover
letter that the younger Karel Botula was, in fact, the Charles Botula, Jr.
listed in my claim. Now, I should point out, that these are all documents that
are readily obtainable, but getting them can be a tedious and time consuming
process. It took me the better part of two months to assemble all of the
documentation required by the State of New York.
Finally, on September 3rd,
I collated everything, put it all in a FedEx envelope and off it went to
Albany, NY where it arrived the next morning. I’ll let you know how this all
turns out, but, it’s been an interesting adventure for me. Along the way, I
learned some new things about my dad, my grandparents and their arrival in the
US back in 1903 and their lives in this new country of theirs.
If you would like to check this out
for yourself, each state is holding unclaimed funds or other assets. Just
Google “Unclaimed Funds” or “Unclaimed” property on your state government’s web
site.
Ciao!
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