Found" money is always a good thing, right?

A huge number of deposits have been made recently at Actors Fund. I recognize ALOT of kids on the list. Some are famous (Mary Kate Olsen, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas..and even, Arnold Schwarzenegger's son Patrick!), others worked as background.

Right now, there are 20,000 child actor kids affected. $2M. That's MILLION. Is part of that YOUR child's money??

If you are not familiar with this issue, the short version is this: In 2004, California passed a law that required studios to transfer "unclaimed" Coogan money to the Actor's Fund. This money is the 15% that was with held from the child's paycheck. It was supposed to be deposited automatically into the child's trust account, and most often their paycheck notes that the money WAS withheld for trust (so the parents assume it went to the bank). Often it doesn't actually get there. When the studio can't (or won't) figure out how to transfer the money to the child's bank account, they send it to the Actors Fund for safe keeping. Right now there is over $2 MILLION of kids' money at Actors Fund, with over 20,000 kids affected! The problem has reached epidemic proportions.

There are lots of reasons the money gets "lost". Clearly the system is not working, but that's another whole story! Usually, it is not the parent's fault at all.

It is important however, that you retrieve the money, even if it is a very small amount. Why?
1. It is the right thing to do. That money belongs to the child that earned it.
2. Parents are by law, the legal trustees of the child's earnings. It is a legal requirement that the parent perform "due dilligence" to get the child what they are owed.
3. The administrative maintenance and bank fees for this "Unclaimed Coogan" system is a heavy burden on the Actors Fund, which is a non-profit organization.
4. If money is sitting there, with their name if full view online, it implies that the parent wasn't fufilling their legal duty. This can become a problem later, in cases of divorce, emancipation, legal disputes, etc. where the parent's ability to manage the child's career comes into question.

Getting the money back is easy. All you have to do is double check the list at Actors Fund and fill out a Beneficiary Form. You may want to search stage names, alternate spellings, misspellings, etc. Sometimes those are the reasons the money went missing to begin with. http://www.unclaimedcoogan.org/benapp.cfm

Also...pass the word to friends, agents and managers! I saw lots of names I knew on that list--I bet you will too. If you see a friend's name, please tell them that their child's money is waiting for them! We know you are aware of the need to track your child's Coogan, but if your friends aren't, please direct them to BizParentz. We'd be happy to help them with this, and we have several forms on our website at
http://www.bizparentz.org/californiacooganlaw.html

Lastly, you can help the larger community of child actors. BizParentz would be VERY interested in learning the story behind the money, once the you get it back. We are trying to work with SAG to fix this horrid situation, and gathering data about WHY the money went missing. Tidbits such as: the studio it came from, how old it was, if it was residuals or session fees, was the child incorporated at the time, etc would be helpful. There is some evidence that a few studios are simply ignoring Coogan law altogether--with holding the money from the children, collecting interest for a bit, then dumping a lump sum at the Actor's Fund, rather than writing individual paychecks to children.

If you retrieve your child's money and would like to share the story (confidentially, of course!), please email me directly, or email BizParentz at bizparentz@aol.com.

Here's hoping you are able to recover *big bucks* for your child!

Anne
Anne Henry
BizParentz Foundation