Senate Bill No. 432
(By Senator Craigo)
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[Introduced March 22, 1993; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections one and eleven, article
eight, chapter thirty-six of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
requiring due diligence to notify the owner regarding
abandoned property held by the state treasurer.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections one and eleven, article eight, chapter thirty-
six of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 8. UNIFORM DISPOSITION OF UNCLAIMED PROPERTY ACT.
§36-8-1. Definitions and use of terms.
As used in this article, unless the context otherwise
requires:
(a) "Banking organization" means any bank, trust company, or
a private banker engaged in business in this state, or a banking
institution as defined in section one, article four, chapterthirty-one of this code.
(b) "Business association" means any corporation (other than
a public corporation), joint stock company, business trust,
partnership, or any association for business purposes of two or
more individuals.
(c) "Due diligence" shall include, but not be limited to,
the mailing of a letter by first-class mail to the last known
address of the owner as indicated on the records of the holder.
(c) (d) "Financial organization" means any savings and loan
association, building and loan association, industrial loan
company, credit union, business association which issues
travelers' checks, or investment company, engaged in business in
this state.
(d) (e) "Holder" means any person in possession of property
subject to this article belonging to another, or who is trustee
in case of a trust, or is indebted to another on an obligation
subject to this article.
(e) (f) "Life insurance corporation" means any association
or corporation transacting within this state the business of
insurance on the lives of persons or insurance appertaining
thereto, including, but not by way of limitation, endowments and
annuities.
(f) (g) "Owner" means a depositor in case of a deposit, a
beneficiary in case of a trust, a creditor, claimant, or payee in
case of other choses in action, or any person having a legal or
equitable interest in property subject to this article, or hislegal representative.
(g) (h) "Person" means any individual, business association,
government or political subdivision, public corporation, public
authority, estate, trust, two or more persons having a joint or
common interest, or any other legal or commercial entity; but
shall not include any retirement system supported entirely or in
part by the state of West Virginia.
(h) (i) "Utility" means any person who owns or operates
within this state, for public use, any plant, equipment,
property, franchise, or license for the transmission of
communications or the production, storage, transmission, sale,
delivery, or furnishing of electricity, water, steam, or gas.
§36-8-11. Report of abandoned property.
(a) Every person holding funds or other property, tangible
or intangible, presumed abandoned under this article shall report
to the state treasurer with respect to the property as
hereinafter provided.
(b) The report shall be verified and shall include:
(1) The name, if known, and last-known address, if any, of
each person appearing from the records of the holder to be the
owner of any property of the value of fifty dollars or more
presumed abandoned under this article;
(2) In case of unclaimed funds of life insurance
corporations, the full name of the insured or annuitant and his
last-known address according to the life insurance corporation's
records;
(3) The nature and identifying number, if any, or
description of the property and the amount appearing from the
records to be due, except that items of value under fifty dollars
each may be reported in aggregate;
(4) The date when the property became payable, demandable or
returnable, and the date of the last transaction with the owner
with respect to the property; and
(5) Other information which the state treasurer prescribes
by rule as necessary for the administration of this article.
(c) If the person holding property presumed abandoned is a
successor to other persons who previously held the property for
the owner, or if the holder has changed his name while holding
the property, he shall file with his report all prior known names
and addresses of each holder of the property.
(d) The report shall be filed before the thirty-first day of
March of each year as of the thirty-first day of December next
preceding. The state treasurer may postpone the reporting date
upon written request by any person required to file a report.
(e)
If the holder of property presumed abandoned under this
article knows the whereabouts of the owner and if the owner's
claim has not been barred by the statute of limitations, the
holder shall, before filing the annual report, attempt to
communicate with the owner so that the owner may take necessary
steps to prevent abandonment from being presumed. A notice from
the holder to the owner sent to the owner's last-known address by
United States mail, postage prepaid, shall satisfy therequirements of this subsection (e) If the holder of property
presumed abandoned under this article knows the whereabouts of
the owner, the holder shall, before filing the annual report,
communicate with the owner and take necessary steps to prevent
abandonment from being presumed. All holders shall exercise due
diligence, as defined in section one of this article, at least
sixty days but no more than one hundred twenty days prior to the
submission of the report to ascertain the whereabouts of the
owner if (1) the holder has in its records an address for the
apparent owner which the holder's records do not disclose to be
inaccurate, and (2) the property has a value of fifty dollars or
more.
(f) Verification, if made by a partnership, shall be
executed by a partner; if made by an unincorporated association
or private corporation, by an officer, and if made by a public
corporation, by its chief fiscal officer.
(g) The initial report filed under this article shall
include all items of property which, under the provisions hereof,
would have been presumed abandoned on the effective date of this
article had this article been in effect on the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred fifty-two.
(h) The state treasurer may at reasonable times and upon
reasonable notice examine the records of any person if he has
reason to believe that the person has failed to report property
that should have been reported pursuant to this section.
(i) Every person filing a report shall deliver or pay to thestate treasurer all abandoned property specified in the report,
at the time of the report.
If an examination of the records of a person results in
disclosure of property reportable and deliverable under this
section, the treasurer may assess the cost of the examination
against the holder at a rate established by administrative
regulation promulgated pursuant to chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code, but in no case may the charges exceed the value of the
property found to be reportable and deliverable.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to define due diligence
as first class mailing to the last known address of the owner,
and to require the holder of property, if address known, to
communicate to owner and take necessary steps to prevent
abandonment from being presumed.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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