Old paychecks, utility refunds, stocks, bank accounts and contents of safe deposit boxes amounting to $1.6 billion are now collecting dust in the unclaimed property division of the Pennsylvania Treasury Department. And, by some estimates, more than one-quarter of all life insurance policy benefits go unclaimed because family members aren't aware the policies exist.

Several online resources now promise to help either track down lost property or create a record of where financial information can be found so heirs will know what's where.

About two months ago, a Chicago-based company created an Internet database promising to give people peace of mind in knowing the preparations they've made will be communicated to heirs and beneficiaries when they die. WeRemember.org, a free online service, stores important information about the location of insurance policies, bank accounts, investments and safe deposit boxes on a secure Web site.

"The most popular assets we are seeing on our Web site is life insurance policies," said Tej Shah, co-founder of the service. "Most people who purchase a life insurance policy feel they have taken the first step in protecting their family. But they don't realize life insurance companies have no way of knowing when a policyholder passes."

His service allows people to record their names, the companies that hold their insurance polices, financial investments and other important documents. The service constantly searches public and government databases such as the Social Security Death Index. If the name of a member comes up, a representative notifies people on the contact list.

So far, the Web site has about 3,000 members, Mr. Shah said.

The issue of unclaimed life insurance is a big one.

"It's probably more common than most people think," said Marvin Feldman, CEO of the Life Foundation, a nonprofit insurance education organization in Arlington, Va.

"I think it will become more common as people live longer. Somebody may have a policy they are no longer paying premiums on, so they throw it in a drawer and forget about it."

One insurance policy locator service called MIB Solutions based in Braintree, Mass., has a database of 170 million records on individual life insurance applications processed during the last 13 years. What the policy locator search does is provides a notice of an application, which may have resulted in a policy being issued. The company can be reached at www.mibsolutions.com/lost-life-insurance.

Survivors also can do a free online search for unclaimed assets through the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators Web site at MissingMoney.com, a database of governmental unclaimed property records. Pennsylvania residents can search the state unclaimed property records database at www.patreasury.org.

When a company owes someone money but can't find the person -- or when a bank account lies untouched for three years and the owner can't be reached -- the funds must be turned over to the state's unclaimed property division. The cash then stays in government coffers unless a claim is made by the owner or the heirs.

Elizabeth Kupchinsky, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Treasury, said about one in 10 Pennsylvanians have unclaimed property, and the state has created a separate division to help reconnect them with it. Every year, the state runs newspaper ads listing the latest names of owners of unclaimed property.

"There's a lot of property out there that we are looking to return to owners," she said, adding that in 2008, the state returned $86 million to more than 57,000 owners.

The unclaimed property division is like a giant lost and found department. All unclaimed property is held in the general fund until it is claimed. Until then, it continues to earn interest for the owners, she said. There is no time limit on claiming the property.

Robert Wolf, a partner at the Downtown law firm Tener Van Kirk Wolf & Moore, said some of the more complex cases involving unclaimed assets occur when people own stock that is held by the company itself and there are no certificates. In a number of those cases, corporations have reorganized and spun off. An example would be AT&T, which is now spread over more than 20 companies.

Sometimes these companies also pay no dividends, so there would be no record of income that would even tip off a tax preparer to the asset's existence.

"I call them silent securities," Mr. Wolf said. "I've run into it on several occasions. I've had estates where we found $20,000 to $30,000 worth of stocks we wouldn't have found if we had not backtracked the [corporate] spinoffs."