Does anyone know when a safe deposit box is considered abandoned property in Mississippi? I have combed through the unclaimed property website for Mississippi and I cannot locate a time frame for safe deposit boxes.

Thanks in advance!

Metavante had an escheatment guide and as of August 2006 it was 5 years for all accounts and safe deposit boxes.

The Treasurer's office handles abandoned property, you might want to call them and ask. I skimmed the statute and the instructions and, like you, found no reference. Mississippi provides software for the escheatment process and it may be addressed there, but I did not go to the trouble of downloading it to see.

LA Revised Statutes - Title 9

§155. Contents of safe deposit box or other safekeeping depository

Intangible property held in a safe deposit box or other safekeeping depository in this state in the ordinary course of the holder's business, and proceeds resulting from the sale of the property permitted by other law, shall be presumed abandoned if it remains unclaimed by the owner for more than five years after expiration of the lease or rental period on the box or other depository.

Acts 1986, No. 829, §1, eff. July 10, 1986; Acts 1997, No. 809, §1, eff. July 10, 1997.

Mississippi, not Louisiana.

Well dang, not sure why I had Louisiana on the brain

I did find this in a Q&A from Mississippi:

DOES MISSISSIPPI HANDLE SAFETY DEPOSIT BOX CONTENTS?

No.

http://www.treasury.state.ms.us/unclaimed/docs/up/heirfinding.pdf

It also provides contact information.

I would imagine that if the box is abandoned, there is box rent due and the bank would auction off the contents to pay the box rent long before escheat. Any remaining proceeds would be converted to a cashier's check to the box holder and then that cashier's check would be escheated after the requisite period, but I would just call and ask.

You found more than I did...

This is great! Thank you all for your help.

Sometimes I just need reassurance that I am not overlooking the obvious. New York has similar laws in that they don't handle safe boxes either.

Thanks for all of your help!