Bank of america lost safe deposit box key

A co-worker was moving her mother to a new apartment when she discovered the key to a safe deposit box that apparently belonged to her grandfather, who died in the 1980s.

The key has a number, but there's no bank name. Is there any way for her family to find out which bank it belongs to?

Kevin Wall, Cleveland

An unmarked key. A long-lost safe deposit box. It has all the makings of a great mystery.

For help with this one, I called KeyBank. (Can't think why that bank sprang to mind.)

Bank spokesman Dave Reavis said it's not that easy to wander into a bank and get access to a safe deposit box just by producing a key. (Remember, opening a safe deposit box requires two keys: the customer's and the bank's.)

Key requires consumers to produce identification when they ask to open a box. If the box isn't yours, Reavis said, most banks would demand proof that you have a legal right to access the box.

I couldn't find anyone at banks (or, for that matter, at the FBI) who knew a way to eyeball a key and tell which bank it came from.

Still, your friend may be able to match the key with a box. She and her mom should head to probate court to get a court order granting them authorization to track down assets for the estate.

It costs around $60 to file. (Plus, she'll have to show the court proof the funeral expenses were paid, so tell her to stop at the funeral home on the way.) With a court order in hand, it's a simple, if repetitious, task to contact banks to see if they have a record of a safety deposit box in the grandfather's name.

Assuming the grandfather's financial papers are long gone, she can narrow down her contact list by visiting her local library to check an old city directory for banks that had locations near the grandfather's home, workplace or hangouts.

Additionally, check the state's unclaimed funds division (see below) to see if any banks transferred funds from the grandfather's account to the state for safekeeping, because the box was most likely at a bank where he held other accounts.

When your friend contacts banks, she should provide a copy of the court order, the number on the key, the grandfather's name and his Social Security number. (Look up the number through the Social Security death index – available free at genealogical research sites like Rootsweb.

Is it worth the trouble?

Depends on your curiosity level. If I were your friend, I would never sleep again until I tracked down and opened that box.

From a practical standpoint, though, odds are high the box is empty.

The grandfather or his widow could have cleared out the box long ago. Last year, a reader discovered a safe deposit box owned by his late mother almost 20 years after her death. He spent money to get a court order and then, because her key had been lost in the intervening years, spent another $100 or so to drill open the box. When the box was opened, it contained only a paper clip.

And banks often clean out boxes when they lose contact with the account holder.

Customers generally pay a yearly fee to rent a safe deposit box. Banks occasionally offered customers free use of a box as perk for opening an account or keeping balances at a certain level. But once the rent stops coming in or the associated account is closed, banks may free up the space for other customers.

The bank must make a good faith effort to track down and warn the customer if a box is in jeopardy.

If it can't find the customer, the bank can hire a locksmith to drill open the box, auction off any valuables and deduct its fees (like the cost of drilling and back rent) from the proceeds.

The bank must send any leftover cash and any negotiable instruments (like bonds) to the state's unclaimed funds division for safe keeping for the customer or his heirs.

The state won't store valuables like jewelry, so that typically gets sold and converted to cash. Items with sentimental value, like letters, usually are destroyed.

Several years ago, a reader who forgot about a safe deposit box lost heirloom jewelry and adoption papers when the bank auctioned the contents.

Even though the odds are against it, what if your friend's safe deposit box remains intact and harbors some family secret? Anything could be in there. Jewels. Old love letters.

Your friend's grandfather died unexpectedly, while he was still young. He might not have had a chance to clean out the box himself.

And the demand for safe deposit boxes dropped dramatically with the advent of home safes and computers, meaning banks aren't as quick to clear them out. After PNC Bank bought rival National City, it notified customers about unopened boxes that had been gathering dust at the Cleveland bank for decades.

My advice to your friend is to view this as an adventure.

The box may be empty, but the quest for it could become a family legend.

Consumer Wise

If you're looking for lost money, the state Department of Commerce's Division of Unclaimed Funds is fun and easy to search. Just enter a name. You'll get a list of matching names, the consumer's last known address, approximate amounts the state is holding in each account and the source of the funds.

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