Business entities that maintain and/or hold safe deposit boxes or tangible property for customers have the responsibility to escheat these items if contact with the customer is lost. The dormancy period for safe deposit boxes is 5 years. Safe deposit boxes may be drilled one year from the last date of contact from the owner, or one year from the due date of a payment not received or one year after the expiration of the lease. Below are the steps a business entity, or an authorized representative of the entity, would need to complete to ensure compliance with New Jersey's Uniform Unclaimed Property Act.
STEP 1: Holder Completes a Preliminary Report of Items and Submits the Report
After at least 5 years have passed since last contact with the property owner, an authorized representative from the business entity must complete a preliminary unclaimed property report and submit it to the Unclaimed Property Administration (UPA) through its online reporting application. Visit our holder reporting information page for details on the reporting process. A list of required safekeeping fields that may be needed for the report are available at the 'Safekeeping Reporting Codes' link below. At this point in the process the Holder should not include any of the property owner's information (name, last known address, SSN, etc.). After uploading the preliminary report, the Holder should send an email to the Safekeeping Unit (upa4safekeeping@treas.nj.gov) notifying them that a preliminary report was issued.
STEP 2: UPA Reviews Report and Issues a Determination
The UPA will review the report and determine if the State will be accepting the items. The Safekeeping Unit will issue a determination via email within 14 days of notification.
STEP 3: Creating a Final Report Submission
Once the Holder is notified that the UPA will be accepting the items, the Holder must finalized their report. The finalized report should include everything on the preliminary report along with all of the owner's information and any potential corrections to the preliminary report that the UPA requested.
STEP 4: Confirmation of the Safe Deposit Box Contents
The Holder should submit the finalized report through the UPA online reporting application. Once successfully uploaded, the Holder should again email upa4safekeeping@treas.nj.gov to notify the Safekeeping Unit the final report was submitted. The report will sit in a pending status with our office until the items are delivered.
Email the Safekeeping Unit to schedule an appointment to deliver the items to our office. If you elect to ship the items you must notify the Safekeeping Unit via email and include all of the shipping information (Shipping Company, tracking #, expected delivery date, box count/size, etc.)
If your items fit in a small shipping box they can be sent via certified or registered first class mail to:
State of New Jersey
Unclaimed Property Administration
P.O. Box 214
Trenton, NJ 08625-0214
ATTN: Safekeeping Unit
Otherwise, please deliver your items (or send via courier) please use our physical address:
State of New Jersey
Unclaimed Property Administration
50 West State Street
6th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08608
Important Resources
Any Questions? Please email upa4safekeeping@treas.nj.gov