Oregon's Constitution directs the Department of State Lands to act as personal representative for estates for which there is no will or known heir, and to reunite the estate with legal heirs whenever possible. The Department holds estates in trust for 10 years within the Common School Fund if no heirs can be located within that claim period, the proceeds from the estate permanently escheat to the fund.

With additional staff hired in 2006, the program has stepped up efforts to contact landlords, funeral homes, medical examiners and others to educate them about the agency's responsibilities, resulting in a dramatic increase in both the number of estates being managed by DSL and in the revenue from escheats.

"Our team is working on more outreach and education, and on streamlining the estates process," said Pamela Konstantopoulos, the agency's estates and fiscal manager. "We're excited about being able to deliver a better program to Oregonians, reuniting estates with heirs whenever possible, and increasing revenue from escheated estates to the Common School Fund."