Escheated Certificate of Deposit?

[cuhrazyd]

I have a Certificate of Deposit with Nara Bank that my mother left me when she passed away in September 1998. The CD consists of 52,000.00 USD, and was deposited on November 14, 1997. The maturity date is November 14, 1998, and has my name as well as my grandmother's name as the POD BNF on there. My mother was severely ill in the hospital during the year of 1998, and therefore was unable to cash in the CD while neither me nor my grandmother remembered the CD to cash it out after the tragedy of my mother's passing. We recently found the CD inside my grandmother's briefcase and wanted to cash it at Nara Bank, but they first told us that they had already sent it to the State because it was inactive for 10 years, and then later they told us that somebody had cashed it out sometime in late 1998. They told us that they did not know who cashed it out, and that their bank records would cost us $50.00/Hour to search the files (with no guarantee of finding it). My mother was severely ill in the hospital at the time that it was cashed out, while my grandmother stored the CD in her briefcase and totally forgot about it because of her daughter's illness with cancer, and I was much too young to even realize what was going on. The only POD benefactors were me and my grandmother, and my mother never cashed it out for my future's sake. Is this a case of bank fraud? What can I do to claim my money back?

According to:
Sec. 2. G.S. 116B-12 reads as rewritten:
"(a) Most Deposits and Funds. – Any demand, savings savings, or matured time deposit deposit, other than a certificate of deposit, in a financial institution, institution or any funds paid toward the purchase of shares or other another interest in a financial institution shall be presumed abandoned if the financial institution is unable to locate the owner and if, within the preceding five years, as to any demand deposit, or a savings or time deposit or interest having a value of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or less, or within the preceding 10 years, as to any such savings or time deposit or interest having a value of more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), the owner has not:
(1) Increased or decreased the amount of the deposit, shares shares, or claim, claim or presented to the holder the passbook, evidence of deposit deposit, or other appropriate record for the crediting of interest or dividends;
(2) Corresponded in writing with the holder concerning the deposit, shares shares, or claim;
(3) Otherwise indicated an interest in the deposit, shares shares, or claim as evidenced by a writing on file with the holder; or
(4) Maintained another account at the same financial institution that complies with (1), (2), or (3) above.
The financial institution shall make reasonable efforts to locate the owner and to determine whether its records disclose a different address for the owner.
(a1) Certificates of Deposit. – A certificate of deposit issued by a financial institution shall be presumed abandoned if the financial institution is unable to locate the certificate's owner and if, within the 10-year period beginning on the initial maturity date of the certificate, the owner did not take any of the actions listed in subsection (a) of this section. The financial institution shall make the same efforts to locate a certificate's owner as it would make under subsection (a) if the certificate were a demand deposit.

You certainly could file suit and all bank records would be required to be provided.

Where do I begin? I've never filed a suit before, and I'm pretty sure that I need a lawyer for this case, but I have no money to hire one.