A situation where an owner intentionally and completely relinquishes all rights, titles, or claims to a property or an asset that is legally his own, without stating who the next owner should be. However, the reversion of an abandoned property to its original proprietor (or his heirs) is also the case, as when an abandoned leasehold reverts to the landlord or an easement reverts to the landowner. Sometimes abandoned property will escheat to the state.

Abandonment may involve both tangible assets, such as machinery or real estate, or intangible assets, such as goodwill, copyrights, patents, leases, or financial assets including items such as stocks, bonds, and accounts receivable. For example, abandonment initiates when a brokerage firm cannot locate the listed owner of stocks, bonds, or shares in mutual funds held in that owner’s account, over a number of years.

Legal abandonment sometimes requires filing declaration of intent to abandon with the appropriate authorities, as simply neglecting property will not be deemed “abandonment”. Abandonment differs from surrender in that the latter involves two parties: the abandoner and the abandonee (someone who accepts the property). Also, it is unlike forfeiture, which is the loss of property because of a breach of a legal obligation.