More than $18,000 in unclaimed funds has been turned over to the Pennsylvania Treasury, Bureau of Abandoned and Unclaimed Property, from the Carbon County Clerk of Courts office.

The staff found over 1,000 checks, totaling over $20,000, from 2014-2019 during a subsequent backlog investigation. These checks were found in a box in the Collections Division of the Clerk of Courts office last year.

Pennsylvania law requires refunds and restitution payments to be turned over when the rightful owner cannot be determined or located.

This includes payments for refunds and restitution that are returned to the Clerk of Courts office for a variety of reasons, but generally because the courts do not have an updated address and attempts to contact the rightful owner have not been successful.

The staff tried to find the rightful owner of the checks since that time, but was not able to do so.

In April 2021 more than $18,000 was turned over to the state to be distributed as unclaimed property starting in April 2022.

If you or someone you know has a refund or restitution owed to them and didn’t receive payment, please log on to https://www.patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property/ and search your information to see if you have unclaimed funds. If unclaimed funds are found, you can apply for reimbursement following instructions through the website.