Florida holding first in-person, unclaimed property auction since pandemic
Stack of cash stock image.
LAKE MARY, Fla. - Florida has returned more than $1.2 billion in unclaimed property to people over the past four years, including $328 million last year.
In addition to tangible items like jewelry, coins, and baseball cards, the state keeps track of unclaimed bank accounts, stock dividends, and utility or rent deposits.
Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis oversees the Division of Unclaimed Property, which will be hosting its first in-person unclaimed property auction in more than a year this weekend in Miami.
"Property in safety deposit boxes, that doesn’t ultimately get claimed, comes to the state of Florida. We’ll sit on it for so many months, and then the vault here in Tallahassee gets full. So, we have a first-in/first-out type of auction," Patronis said.
The in-person auction will be held this Saturday, May 22, at the Miami Airport Marriott. Patronis says one in five Floridians have some type of unclaimed property, adding that more than one billion dollars in assets have yet to be claimed.
To see if you have unclaimed property or money, visit www.FLTreasureHunt.gov.