I bought a lake house in 1998. Three pieces of furniture were to go back to the seller. They have never contacted us about picking up this furniture until now. Do I have to give it to them after all this time?

Do you still have them? Is there anything in writing? I would say give them the pieces to avoid a hassle (as long as they pick them up at your convenience).

But I do doubt if a court of law would NOT considered them abandoned after so long.

Legally, I doubt that a court would require it, even if you still have them.

Morally, perhaps, even there after this many years, I would haive no moral issue saying now.

I would like to know beyond what Scott asked. But why they waited so many years?
And what during those years, esp that first year, did you do, to contact them to come and get the furniture

In many situations where someone was supposed to pick something up by a certain point... even without a written agreement to rates, storage fees as compensation would be considered customary and typical and paid to the party inconvienienced with holding someone else's property... 14 years of storage fees would be considerable... and far more than the items are worth most likely...

After this time I think its more of a moral than a legal question... if it was me I'd have told them to get stuffed.

6 months after... I'd have given it to them, maybe even a year later if I still had them... but... 14 years after... to come asking... that takes cast iron balls.