Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited.

Uncashed paycheck 13 years old
If this is in the United States, there are laws governing business behavior when they have recorded expenses (checks, bills, etc) which are never withdrawn or deposited.  A business is required to turn over these funds after a certain time frame to the state government as a part of their business tax cycle.  (One caveat- these laws vary in age by state, and 13 years is a long time.  You might still be out of luck for an amount so old..) There are even businesses which have cropped up to search for "lost money" (for a fee, of course) that your great uncle might have left behind and which now sits in a government holding account somewhere.  It's not necessary to go through the third parties though, because the United States posts this information for the world to see.  A good starting place is: USA.gov Unclaimed Money Tool Do as much legwork there as you can.  You could even attempt to contact the former employer (you said the business accounts still exist) and in a very friendly, non-confrontational manner ask them what their procedures are and would have happened to your paycheck funds.  As others have stated, they are under no legal obligation whatsoever to fix your problem for you, but who knows, you could get lucky and they might voluntarily help you out!  You're looking for information not cash, so politeness, patience and understanding are your tools. If all else fails, you could try one of these 3rd party services.  Here you run into diminishing returns as paying fees to search for money which might not exist just puts you further in the red.