Eudora — Bruce and Bonnie Neis must find all the living heirs of Bruce's great-uncle so they can share in the money.
Bonnie and Bruce Neis came back from the state fair this year with more than the usual bag of souvenirs and memories.
This year, the rural Eudora couple came home with a share of $70,000 uncovered by the State Treasurer's unclaimed property division.
"It isn't as exciting as it sounds because the $70,000 needs to be distributed among all the heirs," said Bonnie Neis, a secretary at Eudora High School.
The Neis (pronounced "Nice") couple first learned of the unexpected inheritance earlier this week after checking with the State Treasurer's office about the estate of a distant relative.
As it turned out, Bruce Neis had a great-uncle named Tom Matney who lived in Kansas City, Kan., and worked at a Colgate-Palmolive plant. Matney died in 1982, leaving no spouse, no children and no will.
The money he had saved in a retirement account remained at Colgate-Palmolive for several years until the company finally turned it over to the state's unclaimed property division.
Earlier this year, Bonnie Neis said, someone doing genealogical research on another Matney family began making inquiries in Kansas. The questions eventually made their way to Bruce and Bonnie Neis who realized the person was asking about Bruce's great-uncle.
The person making the inquiry mentioned the Neises might want to check with the State Treasurer's office about some unclaimed property, which the couple promptly did.
Bonnie Neis said she contacted the office on Monday of this week and learned that the Tom Matney with unclaimed property at the state was indeed her husband's "Uncle Tom."
"They told me we could just go to Topeka or write Topeka to start the process, but they would really like to have a big claim made at the state fair," Bonnie Neis said, "partially to get the word out that they really do have big money that they're looking for the rightful owners of."
State Treasurer Tim Shallenburger says his office is the holder of more than $70 million in unclaimed property. One of the duties of the Treasurer is to hold that property until the rightful owners can be found.
Each year, the Treasurer's office has a booth at the state fair in Hutchinson where people can check the state's unclaimed property computer files.
"We went down to the state fair (Tuesday) specifically for that," she said. "We go to the state fair every year, but this time we had a destination."
Bonnie Neis said several more steps are involved before any family members actually receive the money.
Under probate law, since Tom Matney had no living spouse or children, his estate must be divided equally among each of his four siblings.
Since those siblings also are dead, Bonnie Neis said, each of those 25-percent shares passes down the family tree and gets divided equally among all the living relatives in that line.
"The way it looks, Bruce and I are going to get the smallest amount because his line had the most children," Bonnie Neis said. "But it's going to be fun for his cousins who get the money."
So far, Bonnie Neis said, she and her husband have identified 17 relatives who are entitled to a share of the money.
-- Peter Hancock's phone message number is 832-7144. His e-mail address is phancock@ljworld.com.
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