August 5, 2020
By: Staff Report
TAMPA, Fla. – Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Jimmy Petronis officially announced yesterday that July 2020 posted a historical $42.9 million in unclaimed financial assets that were claimed and returned to their rightful owners through the Division of Unclaimed Property, part of the Florida Department of Financial Services. This marks the largest monthly return of unclaimed financial assets since the inception of the Division. $2 billion in lost, forgotten, or abandoned financial assets are still waiting to be claimed.
Unclaimed financial assets most commonly include paychecks, dormant bank accounts, insurance proceeds, stocks, dividends, deposits, credit balances, refunds and abandoned safe deposit boxes containing historical and other tangible items, such as watches, jewelry and coins. Such assets are safeguarded and held by either business or government entities for typically five years. If the holder of an asset cannot contact or locate the owner, it is reported and remitted to the Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Unclaimed Property. All unclaimed money is deposited into the state’s school fund, where it is used to support public education. All monies and assets are claimable at any time, as there is no statute of limitations on claiming ownership.
Since the onset of COVID-19, $151 million has been returned to Floridians by the Division. $1.1 billion has been returned since Patronis took office as Florida’s Chief Financial Officer in 2017.
In an official news release, Petronis stated, “As COVID-19 continues to impact our communities, this money can be critical to helping Florida’s economy and especially our small businesses. An estimated one in five Floridians has unclaimed property just waiting to be claimed free of charge and I encourage all individuals and businesses to search now at FLTreasureHunt.gov.”
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