There are millions of dollars lying dormant in Revenu Québec’s unclaimed property registry. But the dangers involved in getting your hands on it aren’t always worth it…
• Also read: Succession problem: “It’s hard to carry. We would like to have resolved this quickly.”
• Also read: She still manages the estate of her husband, who died 13 years ago
• Also read: She would have preferred to inherit the house when she was 23
Last May, Mélissa Gaudreault consulted Revenu Québec’s unclaimed property registry, which contained more than $474 million, including $25 million in unclaimed “liquid” inheritances.
“A distant family member wrote to me and advised me to check the registry. He told me that while doing his own research on his family, he found an unclaimed amount in the name of my paternal grandfather,” she says.
When Mélissa looks for her grandfather’s name in the registry, she finds that it has an amount of $1,000 listed as of March 23, 2022. The amount will be held at the Caisse Desjardins de Lévis. To receive the amount, a fee of $114.98 is required, which would still give her and her family $885.02. The amount would come from an “insured sum payable under an insurance contract”.
But to withdraw the famous amount, Desjardins needs the death certificate, all inheritance documents, will research, notarial deeds, etc. “It took way too much paperwork and time, phone calls and research to get $885 back. My own mother spent more than three hours on the phone with a Desjardins employee. »
In the end, getting $885 back would have cost Mélissa and her family more than $500 in addition to the time spent… “If you split it up among nine people in my family, it becomes kind of ridiculous,” She says. That’s why we decided to give this money to the government.”
“Basically we have to pay to have money that will benefit our children, that’s not logical. I wish my father and his brothers and sisters had gotten it back instead of giving it to the state. But hey, it’s just not worth it for us. Damage. »
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