One family came into a surprise inheritance of $250,000 after finding bonds that survived Hurricane Katrina hidden in a recently deceased relative’s attic.
The family took the clearly-damaged documents to the Louisiana Treasurer’s office, where officials determined what they were, 18 years after they were damaged by the deadly hurricane.
In a news release, Louisiana Treasurer John Schroder said: ‘You never know what could be unclaimed property.’
‘So a bearer bond is a bond like a municipal bond or anything else that was issued before there were computers,’ he said.
A recently deceased man’s family found $250,000 worth of damaged bonds in his attic, which they were cleaning out
The man returned to claim the contents of his safety deposit box after the flooding had subsided
‘In order for a person or an entity to get paid the interest on the bond that they purchased, there were these coupons attached to the bond certificate, and literally you would clip the coupon and the coupon had a date and an amount, and you would go to the bank with your coupon on the date that was specified, and they would pay you the amount specified. That’s how you got paid your interest on bond.’
‘In the case of the heir to these old bearer bonds, it amounted to a cash value of more than $250,000. That’s why I encourage people to call our offices and check it out before you discard it as something insignificant or trash,’ he said.
This Louisiana man had, at some point, purchased the bonds and stored them in a safe deposit box at the Whitney Bank in New Orleans.
In the summer of 2005, when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city, the bank, including all of its safety deposit boxes, was completely submerged.
Once the worst of the devastation was over, the man went to the bank to collect his water-logged bonds and bring them home, where he evidently placed them in a plastic bin in his attic and forgot about them for the rest of his life.
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The man recently passed away and his family discovered the valuable pieces of paper while clearing out his house.
Many of them were in tatters and being underwater and then stores in the heat and humidity of the attic for nearly 20 years.
Louisiana’s Treasury Chief Investment Officer, John Broussard, said the family had ‘sort of, I think, given up on being able to collect on all of them, because when they went looking for the original paying agent and the paying agent no longer existed, and they were at a loss as to what to do and someone suggested they contact our office.’
New Orleans found itself entirely submerged following Hurricane Katrina hitting the city in 2005
The crumpling bonds had been kept in a plastic bin in the man’s attic for some 18 years
According to some estimates, one in six people in Louisiana are entitled to unclaimed property
Officials at the Unclaimed Property department looked into the bonds and discovered that the paying agent had reported the coupons and interest unclaimed before going under. Meaning, the state still had the money and the family was told to bring in the crumbling paper.
‘This is a very rare case where we received all deteriorated paper bonds,’ said Broussard. ‘We scattered the torn and wrinkled bonds across the conference table. In the end, we were able to successfully match the physical bonds with our treasury records, and the significant claim was paid out to the heirs of those bonds.’
According to some estimates, one in six people in Louisiana are entitled to unclaimed property.
