Actually what you are seeing at work here is but one of the many government regulations which require unclaimed funds to be eventually turned over to a government entity . In this case usually a state agency . As I recall every state has such requirements . Same for unclaimed bank deposits from long inactive accounts and also unclaimed rent deposits just to name two such examples .
While the individual amount may be very small , as in this situation , over any given year the total of the monies collected by the individual states comprise a surprisingly large sum .
Another perhaps interesting " side-bar ", in many states such as NY , banks are required to pay interest on the deposits held in lawyers' escrow accounts [ the funds of their legal clients ] . However neither the lawyers nor their clients see the interest which must be paid . Instead the banks must periodically transfer the interest paid on such accounts over to the State Banking Department . They in turn hand the funds over to the state comptroller who uses them to help support legal services to the indiginent such as Legal Aid Services and Court Appointed Attorneys .
As you might expect when it comes to our various governments and their collective appetites for more and more money no possible source gets overlooked .
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