The Unclaimed Property Division of the Vermont State Treasurer's Office reunites Vermonters with lost and abandoned assets, and its programme page puts the holdings at over 1 million properties valued at more than $175 million. Unclaimed property here means any financial asset owed to an individual, a business, an agency or a nonprofit and held by a holder for a set time without contact from the owner, and the entities that report it include banks, credit unions, corporations, utilities, insurance agencies, retailers, states and state agencies and brokerage houses. The examples the division gives are worth reading because two are unusual: forgotten bank accounts, uncashed pay checks, unrefunded security deposits, stocks returned by the United States Postal Service, mutual funds, individual retirement accounts and the forgotten contents of safe deposit boxes.
Two statements settle the questions people ask first. The division holds unclaimed property in perpetuity until it is claimed by the owner or the heirs, and it says plainly that you never lose your right to claim funds. And it publishes what it actually does: in the 2025 financial year the division processed 19,010 individual claims totalling more than $5.8 million, a figure that covers cash only and excludes distributions of mutual funds and other securities. The law behind it is Title 27, chapter 18 of the Vermont Statutes. The office is at 109 State Street, Montpelier, and answers on (802) 828-2407, or 800-642-3191 within Vermont. For Vermont records held locally, see the Vermont county pages.
- Under $200: an original owner can file online with no documents to post in most cases, and payment is mailed within two business days of approval.
- No Social Security number online: anyone who would rather not supply it can print the claim form or ask for one by post instead.
- Held in perpetuity: the division states that the right to claim is never lost, whoever holds it and however long it has been.
- May 1, not November: Vermont takes the annual holder report on May 1, with safe deposit box contents due 120 days later.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Vermont's own systems: the Vermont State Treasurer unclaimed property page, the Treasurer's holder information and resources page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The small claim that pays in two days
Vermont's claim process is tiered by value, and the fast lane is genuinely fast. Where the property is worth under $200 and the claimant is the original owner, the claim can be filed online without the need to post documentation in most cases, and once it is approved the payment is mailed within two business days. That is the quickest published turnaround of any state programme, and it exists because the online route verifies identity from the Social Security number the claimant supplies.
Anyone who would rather not give that number online has two alternatives, both set out by the division: print the claim form and post it to the office for processing, or ask for a claim form to be sent out by post, with all the instructions included on the form. Larger claims and claims by heirs follow the same paper route. Once a claim is filed, the status is checked by creating or logging into an account, using the claim identifier printed at the top right and the bottom right of the claim form, and the division invites people to telephone either to check a status or to ask what the best way to file would be in their case.
What the division publishes beyond the search
Alongside the main database the Treasurer keeps pages that answer the two questions the division hears most. One is about lost life insurance, with a page for searching for a lost policy or payment, which matters because an insurance benefit is often the largest single thing a family is missing. The other is about fraud, where the division warns that some websites and telephone solicitors offering to help recover abandoned assets can be fraudulent and publishes tips for evaluating such offers.
It also keeps a page on heir finders and asset locators, a glossary, and a list of other unclaimed property search sites, since forgotten assets are reported to programmes in all fifty states as well as the District of Columbia, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.
The holder package, item by item
The holder page sets a single annual deadline, May 1, by which all holders must submit their report and remittance for everything shown, with envelopes postmarked by that day accepted and the next business day applying where May 1 falls on a weekend or a holiday. A complete filing has six parts: the annual compliance report cover sheet and verification checklist, which must carry a notarised signature and accompany every report; the report details in the national format, filed on paper schedules where there are ten items or fewer and electronically above that; a printed copy of the report and cover sheet where the details were submitted digitally; the remittance for all amounts, securities and shares shown; transfer documentation for any securities reported; and, only where boxes are involved, a safe deposit box cover sheet and inventory report.
Safe deposit box contents are deliberately separated from the rest: the forms and the contents are due 120 days after the May 1 deadline, and the holder states on the annual cover sheet how many boxes will be shipped rather than sending them with the report. Negative reports are not mandated by the Vermont statutes, but the division encourages them as evidence that a business reviewed its records thoroughly, filed by entering zeros on the cover sheet.
A holder needing more time submits a written request at least 30 days before May 1, describing the circumstances and giving an expected delivery date.
Coming forward, and getting money back
A business that has never filed an abandoned property report can use the division's voluntary compliance programme, which lets it start complying while avoiding penalties and interest. Eligibility is drawn carefully: holders that were unaware of their obligation, or that have failed to comply with the Vermont law, may report their liabilities without any assessment of penalties and interest, except where the holder is currently under an unclaimed property examination or has been notified by the Treasurer's office, or by a third party acting for it, of an intention to audit, which extends to all subsidiaries and related parties.
Participation starts with a written request by post, fax or email. Separately, a holder that reported property as abandoned and later paid the owner directly can recover those funds by filing the reimbursement request form with evidence of the repayment or an explanation of the filing error. The division also offers to give presentations to groups about the law, the reporting process and the requirements.
Reading a Vermont result
A record here is held under the name and address a holder reported, so a maiden name, a business name, a nonprofit's name and former addresses are all worth searching, and the state notes that agencies and nonprofits appear in the database alongside individuals. Nothing expires. Two features of the Vermont system are worth planning around: a small claim by the original owner can be done and paid inside a week, while anything larger or inherited runs on paper, and because the holder deadline is May 1 rather than the autumn date used elsewhere, the best time to search again is early summer, when the year's new reports have landed.
Questions about unclaimed property in Vermont
Related Vermont records
Vermont's other public records guides on this site are the Vermont background check guide for the Crime Information Center record service, the Vermont court records guide for the judiciary's public access, the Vermont arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, and the Vermont county pages for every county office.