I know all about in theory. I lend things out and then forget who had things last. I lent something out to a person who died and before I knew about it, his son sold off his stuff including what I lent him. I sent the borrower an email not knowing he was deceased. Did a search for his contact information and came across his obituary. So I dropped the issue. His son came across the email a couple months later and apologized for selling it. I told him it was water under the bridge and had moved on so no big deal. But I do try to keep a bit better track of things. I even get things returned from my kids when the borrow them these days, sometimes.