Lifestyle

A Retired Couple’s Investment Account Suddenly Showed Zeros. Then They Learned the State Had Taken It: “It’s Just Pure Theft”

By Curtis Jones · November 13, 2026

Eugene and Ann Breznock had not moved. They had lived in the same house in Winters, California, for more than 30 years.

Then the retired couple opened a Charles Schwab statement and found that investments worth $275,000 were gone, replaced with a column of zeros. That is how CBS13 Sacramento’s Call Kurtis team described the discovery in a May 2021 report.

“It’s just pure theft!” Eugene told the station.

According to CBS13, the couple had not touched the account for three years or had any contact with Schwab. Under California law, that was enough for the state to require Schwab to transfer the investments to the state’s Unclaimed Property program for safekeeping.

Getting it back proved harder. CBS13 reported that the assets were labeled “incomplete” on the state’s website, that the state blamed Schwab for submitting the transfer with “errors,” and that when Eugene called Schwab, he says he was directed back to the state.

“I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve been awake thinking of what a rotten this system this was,” he told the station, adding that he worried about how long it would take to use his own funds again.

Attorney William Palmer, who CBS13 said has fought the program in court for more than two decades, was blunt. “This is unconstitutional stealing,” he told the station. Palmer argued the law has drifted from its original purpose of protecting property when owners become lost and unknown. “They don’t know where their client is? Pick up the phone and call them!” he said.

The other side disputed that picture. The State Controller’s Office, which runs the program, declined an interview but told CBS13 the program is meant “to protect consumers” and keeps businesses from holding on to unclaimed money as income. Schwab said it only sends assets to the state “after making multiple attempts to contact the client to claim the assets.” Both insisted warning letters went out. Eugene says he never received them.

Once Call Kurtis got involved, Eugene was able to claim his property. “That they take money from people as old as we are that we have saved and sweated blood for? I mean that’s a lot of nerve!” he said. The state first returned the cash, and in a July 2021 follow up, CBS13 reported that the stock had finally shown back up in the couple’s account, ending what the station called an eight month battle.

The rules behind their case exist in every state. The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators explains that when an account goes a set period with no activity or contact from the owner, called the dormancy period, the property becomes unclaimed and by law must be turned over to the state. Stocks, checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, uncashed dividends and the contents of safe deposit boxes are all on its list.

For retirees who leave accounts alone for years on purpose, that is the catch. A few simple habits can help. Log in to every brokerage, bank and retirement account at least once a year, and answer any letter asking you to confirm you are still there. Keep your mailing address, phone number and email current with each firm. Search your name on your state’s official unclaimed property site, which NAUPA links to from its map at unclaimed.org. In California, that site is claimit.ca.gov. NAUPA says searching is free, so be wary of anyone who charges to look.

The Breznocks got everything back. It took a television station and most of a year.

This article is for general information and is not financial or legal advice. Details are from CBS13 Sacramento’s 2021 Call Kurtis reports; claims by Mr. Breznock, Mr. Palmer, Schwab and the State Controller’s Office are their own. This article was produced with the assistance of AI and fact-checked against the sources cited by LightWave Reports.