Montana

You can charge up to 15% as a Montana unclaimed money finder.

Plus, if you have a Power of Attorney that calls for it, the check for the claim will go to the Montana unclaimed money finder.

The following information is from the Administrative Rules of the State of Montana (section 42.38):

(4) Claims for abandoned property submitted by a finder must include:

(a) A properly completed claim form as prescribed by the department, bearing the notarized signature of the claimant; and

(b) An original, signed power of attorney authorizing the finder to prosecute a claim for abandoned property on behalf of a claimant. The power of attorney must contain:

(i) specific authorization to release private information concerning the owner’s interest in the property; and

(ii) specific instructions concerning payment.

(5) Only one check is issued by the state. The check will be issued in the name of the person signing the power of attorney and mailed to the finder, unless the power of attorney specifically states that the check is to be made payable to both the finder and the person signing the power of attorney.

If the check is made payable to the finder only, the power of attorney must specifically authorize “authority to receive the check in the name of the (fee finder’s name) “.

Also, from Montana’s rules:

(1) “Finder” means an individual, company or corporation that locates owners of abandoned property and assists them in retrieving it for a fee or commission.

(2) “Payee” means a person to whom or to whose order a bill, note, check, or money order is made payable.

(3) “Unconscionable fee” means the fee or compensation paid to a finder by the owner that exceeds 15% of the value of the property paid or delivered to the administrator.

Montana does not sell a list to finders. They do not have a search on their site as well.

Instead, they list everything on missingmoney.com , so you would need to go there to do your searches. This is not the easiest way of doing things. You’re basically entering names or partial names and hoping to get a hit that you can contact.

It is a lot easier to have a list of names from a state in front of you and then start your search that way.

Take a look at Indiana for example. They have the search engine listed on their site. You can enter a partial name with just two letters, “ma” for example, and see all the names that come up with the letters “ma” in them.

There are thousands of them. They also show the dollar amounts.

That is just an example of a state that gives the information online.

Even better is a state that sells a list of unclaimed money being held that shows the dollar amount.

You can see an example of that in Alaska. I’m not trying to discourage anyone from finding unclaimed money in Montana, I’m just pointing out that there are other states that make it easier for you.

Just because you live in Montana doesn’t mean you only have to search as a Montana unclaimed money finder.

You can look in any other state you want (as long as you follow their rules).

If you are interested in becoming an unclaimed money finder, please click here.