The following property held or owing by a banking or financial organization or by a business association is presumed abandoned:
(a) Any demand, savings or matured time deposit made in this state with a banking organization, together with any interest or dividend thereon, excluding contracted service charges which may be deducted for a period not to exceed one year, unless the owner has, within three years:
(1) increased or decreased the amount of the deposit, or presented the passbook or other similar evidence of the deposit for the crediting of interest; or
(2) corresponded in writing with the banking organization concerning the deposit; or
(3) otherwise indicated an interest in the deposit as evidenced by a memorandum on file with the banking organization; or
(4) received tax reports or regular statements of the deposit by mail from the banking or financial organization regarding the deposit. Receipt of the statement by the owner should be presumed if the statement is mailed first class by the banking or financial organization and not returned; or
(5) acted as provided in paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (4) of this subsection in regard to another demand, savings or time deposit made with the banking or financial organization.
(b) Any funds or dividends deposited or paid in this state toward the purchase of shares or other interest in a business association where the stock certificates or other evidence of interest in the business have not been issued, or in a financial organization, and any interest or dividends thereon, excluding contracted service charges which may be deducted for a period not to exceed one year, unless the owner has within three years:
(1) increased or decreased the amount of the funds or deposit, or presented an appropriate record for the crediting of interest or dividends; or
(2) corresponded in writing with the financial organization concerning the funds or deposit; or
(3) otherwise indicated an interest in the funds or deposit as evidenced by a memorandum on file with the financial organization; or
(4) received tax reports or regular statements of the deposit or accounting by mail from the financial organization or business association regarding the deposit. Receipt of the statement by the owner should be presumed if the statement is mailed first class by the financial organization or business association and not returned.
(c) Any sum, excluding contracted service charges which may be deducted for a period not to exceed one year, payable on checks certified in this state or on written instruments issued in this state, or issued in any other state the law in which for any reason does not apply to the abandonment of sums payable on checks certified in that state or written instruments issued in that state, on which a banking or financial organization or business association is directly liable, including, by way of illustration but not of limitation, drafts, money orders and traveler's checks, that has been outstanding for more than three years from the date it was payable, or from the date of its issuance if payable on demand, or, in the case of traveler's checks, has been outstanding for more than 15 years from the date of its issuance, or, in the case of money orders, has been outstanding for more than seven years from the date of its issuance, unless the owner has within three years, or within 15 years in the case of traveler's checks, or within seven years in the case of money orders, corresponded in writing with the banking or financial organization or business association concerning it, or otherwise indicated an interest as evidenced by a memorandum on file with the banking or financial organization or business association.
(d) Any funds or other personal property, tangible or intangible, removed from a safe deposit box or any other safekeeping repository in this state on which the lease or rental period has expired due to nonpayment of rental charges or other reason, that have been unclaimed by the owner for more than five years from the date on which the lease or rental period expired.
(1) If the amount due for the use or rental of a safe deposit box has remained unpaid for a period of six months, the bank, savings bank, trust company, savings and loan, or safe deposit company shall, within 60 days of the expiration of that period, send by certified mail, addressed to the renter or lessee of the safe deposit box, directed to the address standing on its books, a written notice that, if the amount due for the use or rental of the safe deposit box is not paid within 60 days after the date of the mailing of the notice, it will cause the safe deposit box to be opened and its contents placed in one of its general safe deposit boxes.
(2) Upon the expiration of 60 days from the date of mailing the notice, and in default of payment within the 60 days of the amount due for the use or rental of the safe deposit box, the bank, savings bank, trust company, savings and loan, or safe deposit company, in the presence of its president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, assistant secretary, assistant treasurer or superintendent, or such other person as specifically designated by its board of directors, and of a notary public not in its employ, shall cause the safe deposit box to be opened and the contents thereof, to be removed and sealed by the notary public in a package, in which the notary public shall enclose a detailed description of the contents of the safe deposit box and upon which the notary public shall mark the name of the renter or lessee and, in the presence of one of the bank officers listed above, the notary public shall place the package in one of the bank's general safe deposit boxes and set out the proceedings in a certificate under the notary public's official seal, which shall be delivered to the bank, savings bank, trust company, savings and loan, or safe deposit company.
(3) The bank, savings bank, trust company, savings and loan, or safe deposit company shall hold the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes until they are claimed by the owner or the bank turns them over to the commissioner pursuant to this chapter.
History:1969 c 725 s 2; 1977 c 137 s 3; 1978 c 674 s 60; 3Sp1981 c 2 art 1 s 58; 1982 c 495 s 2; 1983 c 301 s 234; 1984 c 552 s 17; 1986 c 444; 1992 c 513 art 3 s 61