After a period of time, the FDIC or the bank must transfer unclaimed property to the state. If the bank recently failed, the FDIC or the bank that assumed the failed bank’s business may have the account or safe deposit box contents.

If the account was closed a long time ago, the bank may no longer have any record of it. This process is called escheatment, and every state has laws requiring financial institutions to turn over abandoned property after a certain amount of time, usually between three to five years. Or the bank may have determined that the account or safe deposit box was abandoned, so they transferred the contents to the state. It may still be at the bank, or maybe the owner closed it years ago. The bank may be able to tell you what happened to the account or safe deposit box. If you are looking for someone else’s account, the bank will probably ask you for documentation to prove that you have the right to access the information, like a power of attorney or death certificate and court appointment as executor of the deceased’s estate. You can start by reaching out to the institution and asking whether they have an account in your name or in the name of the person who owns or owned the account. A common reason someone may be searching for a lost account is because they are the executor of a deceased person’s estate or the caretaker for an ill relative or friend, and have come across a bank statement, certificate of deposit, or statement related to a safe deposit box in their loved one’s name.

For instance, you may have opened an account designed for medium- to long-term saving, like certificates of deposit (or CDs), and then forgotten about it. It might seem impossible to misplace money or forget about a safe deposit box, but it happens to many of us.

Escheatment is the transfer of unclaimed funds or property to a state government. You may be wondering, how can I locate and retrieve money from my long lost account? To learn how, you need to know something about escheatment. Or maybe you’ve just come across an unfamiliar bank statement or receipt from a safe deposit box. You think you have some money at a bank, but you can’t quite remember where it is.

First bank safe deposit box