Layton woman struggles to claim money owed to her from her dissolved business

LAYTON, Utah — Utah’s Unclaimed Property Division has millions of dollars that it wants to reconnect with the rightful owner. But for a Layton woman, getting her money back has been easier said than done. So she decided it was time to Get Gephardt.

Years after Lynnette Clark sold her business, she discovered her LLC was owed some money — about $355 that was being held by the state’s Unclaimed Property Division waiting to be claimed.

Clark has tried.

“I got all the papers that they said I needed and I uploaded them,” Clark said.

She heard back that they needed something else.

“They said, ‘But you don’t have this one paper that shows your LLC dissolved.'” Clark said. “I don’t know where to find that paper. I have no idea where to get it. I emailed them back and I said, ‘How do I find this paper? Can you send me this paper? Can you fax me this paper?’”

Clark said she did not hear back, so she tried calling the office, but couldn’t get through, and has even commented on the Unclaimed Property Division’s Facebook page.

“I kind of wish I had never ever looked it up because then it’s just money sitting there that I can’t get,” she said. “I know it’s not that much, but, you know, if it’s mine, I want that money.”

KSL TV took Clark’s frustrations to State Treasurer Marlo Oaks, who says getting money back to a business can sometimes be tricky. For example, in this case, Clark owned the business with her husband, so steps needed to be taken to ensure she had a legal claim to the funds.

“We have to balance the desire to get money back with making sure that it goes to the rightful owner,” he said.

Still, Oaks yielded that there were some “communication issues” between his office and Clark.

“Communication issues ended up making the claim process much more difficult than it should have been, certainly,” Oaks said.

Utah’s treasurer’s office conducted an investigation and said they are using Clark’s situation to make improvements to both their phone system and their email system to hopefully make the process smoother for others who are looking to claim money.

“We want to find out what’s wrong so we can improve it,” he said.

In the end, the Unclaimed Property Division and Clark were able to help get together and, after two years, she now has the money that was owed to her.

If you do find yourself stuck, the state treasurer said you can reach out to the Office of State Treasurer directly by phone, 801-538-1042, or email.