In the state of Florida, there is currently more than one billion dollars worth of unclaimed property held in the office of Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Atwater. According to the Florida Division of Unclaimed Property, unclaimed property is defined as “a financial asset that has been left inactive, unclaimed or abandoned by its owner.” This means that, if the party in possession of an asset is not able to locate or contact the asset's rightful owner, it is eventually sent to the custody of the Florida Division of Unclaimed Property, where it can be claimed by the owner or their heirs. Dormant bank accounts, stocks, dividends, unclaimed insurance proceeds, deposits, credit balances, uncashed checks, refunds and abandoned safety deposit box contents are the most common forms of assets held by the Florida Division of Unclaimed Property. While unclaimed monetary assets go toward funding the public school system through the State School Trust Fund, no statute of limitations exists on your right to these claims, and you may claim your asset through the Florida Division of Unclaimed Property website, www.fltreasurehunt.org.
According to the Florida Division of Unclaimed Property's records, there was $798,448 worth of unclaimed property attached to 3,313 Madison County residents' accounts as of July 1. There is no harm in looking; you may find that there is something that simply never quite reached you. As the Florida Division of Unclaimed Property has recently been bolstered up from bureau status to division status, they are working even harder to make returning assets a priority in the state. During the 2015-2016 fiscal year alone, the state paid out 454,386 accounts with a sum value of $271,824,223, and under the current administration, over 1.3 billion dollars worth of assets have been returned in only six fiscal years. Since its inception in 1961, the Florida Division of Unclaimed Property has returned a total greater than 2.8 billion dollars worth of assets. Visit www.fltreasurehunt.org, select “Search Unclaimed Property,” and fill in your name to see if a piece of the pie is yours.