On Monday, state Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis announced more than $30 million in unclaimed property was returned to Floridians during the month of March 2021.
Since Patronis took office three years ago, more than $1.2 billion has been returned to Floridians in Unclaimed Property.
“I’m excited to announce that in March we returned more than $30 million in unclaimed property back to the pockets of Floridians. Since becoming your CFO, I made it my mission to return every cent of unclaimed property to the rightful owners and I’m especially proud that, since the COVID-19 pandemic began over a year ago, we have recovered and returned more than $379 million, more than any other 13-month period in the program’s 60-year history. There’s an estimated one in five chance that you have money just waiting to be claimed. It only takes a few minutes to search for unclaimed property and I encourage individuals and business owners to search right now at FLTreasureHunt.gov,” Patronis said on Monday.
Unclaimed Property is a financial asset that is unknown or lost, or has been left inactive, unclaimed or abandoned by its owner. The most common types of unclaimed property are dormant bank accounts, unclaimed insurance proceeds, stocks, dividends, uncashed checks, deposits, credit balances and refunds. Unclaimed property also includes contents from abandoned safe deposit boxes in financial institutions. Unclaimed property assets are held by business or government entities (holders) for a set period of time, usually five years. If the holder is unable to locate, re-establish contact with the owner and return the asset, it is reported and remitted to the Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Unclaimed Property.
March 2021 Unclaimed Property Returns by Region
• Pensacola – $626,540
• Panama City – $268,330
• Tallahassee – $746,680
• Jacksonville – $1,715,740
• Gainesville – $733,910
• Orlando – $4,666,660
• Tampa/St. Pete – $5,608,860
• Fort Myers/Naples – $2,045,150
• West Palm Beach – $4,377,320
• Miami – $9,437,360
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