As amazing as it sounds in a world where deficits and poverty run rampant, unclaimed money is a huge reality. And there’s no larger sector in which unclaimed money is a factor than in unclaimed life insurance policies.

Think for a moment. Have you had a loved one die in the last few years? Were they reasonably well off? Chances are good, then, that they had some form of life protection. Talk to somebody that was very close to them, or at least think to yourself if you’re that person: did you ever see a dime of the money that person was worth upon the end of their life? Did their policies get collected on, or were they left unclaimed and ignored?

It does happen, and fairly often. It’s pretty easy, too: insurance companies don’t have that much of a reason to notify people of lack of payment, after all, and it’s very easy for family members and friends of the deceased not to know of multiple life protection policies that the deceased possessed. And once they’ve passed on the link to the insurance protection policies companies is gone: they have no way to get in contact with surviving relatives to deliver on the money.

Not every state (or province, or wherever you may live) offers easy ways to find out about these policies, either. Not every company offers a searchable database through which you can discover whether or not somebody you knew had policies that went unpaid. And since unclaimed life insurance policies can comprise an incredible amount of money, it’s worth your time to have a look and see if there’s anything owed to you.

Don’t let these companies just sit on this unclaimed money. The deceased took them out to protect their loved ones. Make sure the money makes its way to those families by contacting the companies in question. You may well save a family a lot of grief by getting them the money they need to keep surviving in this cash-centric world of ours and keep an insurance company from keeping money that’s owed elsewhere.