Thousands of Arkansans to be mailed checks with new unclaimed property law

Arkansas State Auditor Dennis Milligan looks at his computer in his office at the state capitol on July 30, 2025. (Ainsley Platt/Arkansas Advocate)

Roughly 360,000 Arkansans could receive checks, Arkansas State Auditor Dennis Milligan said

By Ainsley Platt, Arkansas Advocate

Ever wished you could open up your mailbox and find $100?

That wish could come true for some Arkansans under a new state unclaimed property law. Act 114 of 2025, which went into effect earlier last week, allows the Arkansas State Auditor to automatically return thousands of dollars of unclaimed money to their owners.

More specifically, the law allows the auditor to mail property valued at less than $5,000 to owners if they live within the state of Arkansas and the auditor “reasonably believes” it belongs to them, even if they haven’t filed a claim for it.

That means unclaimed property could find its way into the inboxes of thousands of Arkansans without requiring them to go through a claims process, State Auditor Dennis Milligan told the Advocate.

“The next two or three months is going to be a lot of fun for Arkansans, because the checks will start going out,” Milligan said. One in four Arkansans have money sitting in the unclaimed property program, he said.

In addition to its other roles, the auditor’s office is responsible for around $400 million in unclaimed property from around the state, which is held in “perpetuity” until it’s claimed, Milligan said.

With the new law, Milligan said his office anticipates sending out nearly a fourth of that — $83 million — to approximately 360,000 people. Milligan said the average payout is expected to be a little over $100.

“This program is very, very important to me,” Milligan said. “You know, $200 might not mean anything to one person, but it may mean the difference between being able to pay a utility bill or … put[ting] some food on the table.”

Milligan’s office receives money from a variety of sources, including abandoned checking accounts, rebates and insurance adjustments.

“I got 20 bucks here a while back off of some kind of rebate,” Milligan said. “A former employer tried to send you your last check, and they couldn’t find you, so they forwarded it to us. It’s a multitude of different reasons why we get sent this money.”

Unclaimed property is more than money. The office keeps a book with pictures of some of the more interesting physical property in its care — a World War II-era telegram referencing a conversation with Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, a $10,000 bill, signed Nolan Ryan baseball cards — obtained from abandoned safety deposit boxes or an inheritance that went unclaimed. That property is meticulously catalogued and stored.

Getting Arkansans to come and collect what they’re owed, however, can be a difficult task, Milligan said, because many people don’t know they’re owed money at all. Fears about being scammed have also come up.

In some cases, property can go unclaimed for decades. Most people don’t know that the unclaimed property program exists, Milligan said, something that still “amazes” him.

Even Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has unclaimed property, according to the auditor’s office’s online database, where Arkansans can go to see if they are owed money.

Milligan and his staff criss-cross the state to raise awareness for unclaimed property — and to get people to see if they have any in their name. Milligan has personally driven to the homes of people who were owed large sums to convince them to fill out the claims form.

Even for those who weren’t suspicious or knew they were owed money, the paperwork sometimes stood in the way of returning their property, Milligan said. Prior to Act 114, if someone wanted to reclaim property from the auditor’s office, regardless of the value, they had to fill out a form and verify their identity before being sent their property.

Republican Sen. Dave Wallace of Leachville, who introduced the act, said Milligan came to him with the idea for the legislation last year. Automatically repatriating the funds in the possession of the state to their rightful owners, Wallace said, was just good government.

Wallace said he was a “good example” of the benefits of the law because “the state has $238 that belongs to either me, or my wife, Karen, from some event a couple years ago. I didn’t even know about it. And there’s going to be thousands and tens of thousands of Arkansans in that same situation.”

Milligan said his office will use software to validate the identities and addresses of unclaimed property owners before mailing a check. Getting through the backlog will take time, he said, but eligible unclaimed property owners will begin receiving letters informing them that a check is on the way in the coming months. The check will follow a few weeks after as long as the original letter isn’t returned as undeliverable.

“I mean, who can argue about Arkansans getting their money back?” Milligan said. “I haven’t had anybody complain yet.”

Even with the law, Milligan said he still encourages Arkansans to check the unclaimed property database occasionally. The new law only allows the auditor’s office to send money, and only if it’s $5,000 or less. Any more than that, and the person owed the money still has to fill out the paperwork that was previously required.

Physical property isn’t eligible for automatic repatriation either, nor is property that multiple people or businesses have claims to. For example, if someone is owed money as part of an inheritance that has multiple claimants, they still have to fill out the auditor’s form online.

The Arkansas Advocate is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to tough, fair daily reporting and investigative journalism that holds public officials accountable and focuses on the relationship between the lives of Arkansans and public policy.