Money flowing in faster than it flows out sounds like a good thing. But one division of Vermont state government exists to deplete its bank account — and it can’t get rid of its holdings fast enough.
The Unclaimed Property Division of the Office of the State Treasurer is charged with reuniting Vermonters with their lost or forgotten assets. Those could be bank accounts, uncashed paychecks, life insurance benefits, mutual funds, security deposits, retirement accounts or the contents of safe-deposit boxes. The state is holding more than 1 million properties with a total value of more than $130 million.
Despite publicity events and advertising campaigns that encourage people to search its online database, year after year the division takes in more money than it pays out. Vermont law requires banks, businesses and other entities holding assets to attempt to notify the owners. After a period with no communication, generally two or three years, the organization is required to turn over the property to the state. That’s for safekeeping, State Treasurer Mike Pieciak explained, because private organizations could go out of business or change hands. Unclaimed property can get lost in the shuffle.
Assets worth $18.1 million were turned over to the state last year, while $5.8 million was returned to Vermonters.
“It’s not just about dollars and cents.” State Treasurer Mike Pieciak
People never lose their right to claim their property, but while it’s in state hands, it helps pay for state government, a situation made possible by the fact that the amount Vermonters claim each year is a tiny fraction of the total. The balance continues to grow. Unclaimed funds cover the $1.2 million annual budget of the Unclaimed Property Division, where five people work. Additional revenue — $9.3 million last year — goes into the general fund.
Contents of safe-deposit boxes go into bankers boxes, which are sealed and stored in a vault the size of a small conference room. They offer a glimpse at what Vermonters hold dear: engraved silver matchboxes, tea sets, coin and gem collections, silver belt buckles, an 1864 2-cent piece, and a simple Seiko watch likely precious only to the family of the woman who wore it.
There are forgotten family records, locks of hair, and sports cards that came in bubble gum packs and cereal boxes: an Orlando Magic center Shaquille O’Neal card, Bo Jackson as a rookie Los Angeles Raiders running back, Roger Clemens in his second season with the Boston Red Sox and Vermont’s own John LeClair as a Montréal Canadiens rookie left wing.
Also stored securely are military medals, including at least two Purple Hearts; guns (Vermont State Police store all that still operate); and an empty, federal-blue, soft-sided suitcase, perhaps the epitome of lost luggage.
The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators says one in seven Americans has unclaimed property. All states have offices that manage it. Collectively, they returned $4.5 billion in fiscal year 2024.
Vermonters can search the state’s holdings at missingmoney.vermont.gov. (Search again in the summer, Pieciak advises, because lots of property arrives shortly after the May 1 deadline for turning it over.) Nationwide searches can be conducted at missingmoney.com, a website operated by the National Association of State Treasurers.
Unclaimed property administrators trade ideas for returning property at conferences. Vermont administrators released TV ads featuring beloved retired meteorologist Tom Messner. They set up computers at community events, shopping malls and the Champlain Valley Fair for passersby to search their database. They staged a road tour last fall to ceremoniously return money — a total of $150,000 — to organizations in each of the state’s 14 counties.
Borrowing an idea from Illinois, Vermont Unclaimed Property Division director Al LaPerle and his staff in December launched the MoneyBack Program, in which they cross-checked identity information of people on their list with the state tax department. Once verified, they mailed checks — more than 5,000 of them — that totaled nearly $1.3 million.
Another pilot program returned forgotten funds to nonprofits once the organizations’ addresses were verified by the Secretary of State’s Office. Don and Bernadette Pierson of South Hero received $24,000 last year for the Stefan Pierson Foundation, which they started in honor of their late son to support young adults with cancer. The money had been sitting in a forgotten PayPal account.
In all, the state has returned 26,000 pieces of property so far this fiscal year, nearly double the number returned in the same time period last year.
Like his counterparts across the country, Pieciak savors a good reunion story. Surveying a list of unclaimed property owners early last year, he spotted the name of a southern Vermont man owed $38,000. Pieciak called his own father, a Windham County CPA, and asked if he knew the man. Yes, the elder Pieciak said. He had been doing the man’s taxes for 40 years and verified his address.
Pieciak called with the good news. One of the man’s adult children lives out of state and “was totally convinced it was a scam,” Pieciak said. Once they verified his identity, Pieciak sent the money.
A week or two later, he got a thank-you note from the children. They hadn’t known about the money, they said, and it would allow their father, who was in his late nineties, to afford to stay in his home for another year.
“It’s not just about dollars and cents,” Pieciak said.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Treasure Hunt | Cash, jewelry, baseball cards — even lost luggage — wait to be claimed in the State Treasurer’s Office”
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This article appears in The Money & Retirement Issue 2025.
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