Okay, so Michelle and I got a safety deposit box last weekend and I was talking to Tim from work about it and he said that the Treasury Department can confiscate what is in your safety deposit box after s certain time period has passed. This sounded very fishy to me so I looked it up on the “Interweb”:
If you did not pay the annual fee on the safe deposit box, it would have been considered dormant once there was no activity—such as payment of the fee—for 5 to 7 years. (The length of time necessary to declare an account dormant is defined by State statute.)
Once an account is declared dormant, the bank may be required to transfer the contents of the safe deposit box to the State treasurer or unclaimed property office. Most States require that the bank send notice of the impending transfer to you at the last address of record on the bank’s books.
If you wish to find out if property from your safe deposit box was sent to the State treasurer, contact your applicable State treasurer/unclaimed property office. You can also start your search by visiting www.unclaimed.org. via: http://www.helpwithmybank.gov/faqs/other_safe_dep_box.html
