The odds are very good he will legally get to keep it.
But he should not have publicized it.
That man has just earned two million dollars the same as if he’d won the lottery.
Next April 15 he will owe the gubbermint about a third in income taxes, plus whatever income tax Kentucky has.
More fun with lost and found:
That is a classic treasure trove under common law. It’s a cache of gold or silver coin, it’s so old the owner isn’t going to claim it, and it was concealed. In America the law is often finder’s keeper’s. In England a treasure trove belongs to the Crown.
What if he was trespassing? The land owner likely has a good claim. The law discourages treasure hunters on other people’s property.
What if the lucky finder drops one of his coins?
A coin or two found on the street is likely lost property. The finder is a thief unless he reports the lost property.
If you put a coin down and forget where you put the coin, that is mislaid property.
It remains your property. The finder must report it or he’s a thief.
But if you buy some land and there’s an old coffee can of small change in an old falling down shed, that is abandoned property. That is usually yours, to keep. And, it might not be taxable income until you sell it.
This is all law school stuff I learned over forty years ago, and it fascinated me.
Let’s say the finder kept quiet and put all those coins in his safe.
He’s a tax evader, but if he were to sit on his coins until he died, the lawyer for his estate will tell his heirs, the value of the coins on his date of death becomes the new taxable basis for income tax if the heirs ever sell, and today there is no estate taxes due on a single person of the estate is about ten million or less.
So his kids could hold the coins, or sell soon after he died and keep ALL the money, except for the lawyer’s cut, of course.
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