SEARCH TIP: Never reveal your social security information prior to submitting a claim. Initial searches will only require first or last names, and claims are filed directly with government offices.
The effort is the brainchild of acting District Court Chief Judge Michael A. Higgins, who identified more than 2,500 closed cases that had bail balances remaining, Berke said. A total of $858,195 remained uncollected, but the courts subtracted any outstanding fines or fees owed to District or Superior courts, he said.
A person taken into custody after being criminally charged may deposit bail with the court in order to gain temporary release and ensure his or her attendance as the case proceeds. By law, if the money remains on deposit when the court makes its judgment, the clerk must satisfy any fines or costs and then refund the surplus to the defendant or to the person who posted the money on the defendant’s behalf.
The court sends a written notice to that individual at their last known address, but many move without forwarding an address or do not respond to the notice, Berke said. By state law, the unclaimed money can be considered abandoned after one year. Thirty-seven of the cases dated to late 1989.
The money this week will be turned over to the unclaimed property division of General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio’s office, which is in the process of transferring the list of individuals who did not claim their bail into its database. People will be able to access the list at http://www.treasury.ri.gov, said David Salvatore, unclaimed properties manager at the treasurer’s office.
The names and last known address will then be published in the state’s annual tally of unclaimed properties in March along with instructions about how to make a claim, he said.
The money will go into the state coffers unless its rightful owner comes forward to retrieve it, Salvatore said. “We’ve paid claims that date back to the ’60s.”
The initiative, called the “bail project,” was discussed briefly at a House Finance Committee meeting last week. Court Administrator J. Joseph Baxter Jr. told the committee the courts would not be able to achieve another $850,000 in cuts requested by the state budget office, but ticked off a number of steps taken to save or find money for the state, including the bail project.
The courts, like other state departments, Berke said, are looking for ways to cut spending as the state faces dire budget times. “We’re going to turn it over to help the state,” he said of the bail money. It was unclear if it is the first time the courts have undertaken such an effort.
Unlike other state agencies, the judiciary does not answer to the governor regarding budget matters. The General Assembly, at the urging of then-Chief Justice Frank J. Williams, five years ago passed a budget article that dictates that the governor must pass along the judiciary’s budget request to the state lawmakers without changes.
