Unclaimed property may be held by state

One in five Floridians (as reported by the state) may have accounts or property held by the state that they are unaware of. Once accounts from real estate holdings, businesses, deposits, etc. have remained inactive for seven years, they are turned over to the state.

“And I just put in my name and started searching,” said radio personality Shane Collins.

Collins got bored during the pandemic, searched fltreasurehunt.gov on a lark, and hit the jackpot.

“And literally, I don’t mind telling you, thousands of dollars in my name that I had no clue about. If I had not searched that website, I would not have found that money,” Collins said.

Along with Florida residents, 1.3 million businesses have unclaimed property totaling almost half a billion dollars.

“I put in my name. My first name, my middle initial. And then I did it with my middle initial and my last name, and it pulled up different accounts all across the state of Florida where I had worked in broadcasting. Or where I had lived, made business transactions,” Collins said.

He said the good fortune couldn’t have come at a better time.

“I couldn’t believe the amount of money that was sitting in the state for years… And now, it’s coming back to me and my family at the perfect time. We are so grateful,” he said.

As far as physical property goes, there is a vault at the state capital building that holds said objects. The state generally holds auctions for these items in the spring, but this year’s has been postponed to the fall. Not to fear though, if the state has sold property that you had a legal right to, you are entitled to the money they earned for it at auction.

Any funds that are unclaimed go into the state education fund, although you never lose the ability to claim what’s yours no matter how much time has passed.