After a business entity has determined that property in their posession - whether it be money (dividends, checks, cash, etc.) or physical items - is unclaimed they are supposed to search out the owner. Once the holding statute in their state has lapsed, they then turn the property over to their state's Treasury. The Treasury then adds it to their inventory list and will post, either on their own website or through missingmoney.com, basic info so that the owners (or rightful heirs) can search and hopefully claim it. This is true even for companies. I found a lot of money meant for my parents' business this way.
In the case of physical property that is turned over to the state, the state will auction off the items and then attribute the cash receipts to that individual's property ID. Sometimes folks can retrieve their items before it goes to auction, but most of the time enough time has passed that you end up with whatever the gross proceeds are from the auction, plus any direct cash "deposits" (checks, dividends, etc.) attributed to your Property ID on file with the State.
