ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 55
(By Senator Humphreys)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 25, 1994.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections eight and nine, article
eight, chapter thirty-six of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
stale dated checks held by state, local or federal entities;
including stale dated checks as intangible property under
the uniform disposition of unclaimed property act; relating
to money order abandonment; and establishing time period for
a presumption of abandonment of money orders as seven years.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections eight and nine, 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.
§36-8-8. Property held by courts and public officers and
agencies.
(a) All intangible personal property, including stale dated
checks, held for the owner by any state or federal court, public
corporation, public authority or public officer in this state, or
a political subdivision thereof, that has remained unclaimed by
the owner for more than five years is presumed abandoned:
Provided, That this provision shall in no way affect such
property in the custody or control of any state or federal court
in any pending action:
Provided, however, That if any federal
statute provides for the distribution of any unclaimed property
subject to the jurisdiction of a federal court, this statute
shall not apply.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this
section, all intangible personal property in the custody or
control of a general receiver of a state court of record
appointed pursuant to the provisions of article six, chapter
fifty-one of this code, that has remained unclaimed by the owner
for more than five years is presumed abandoned:
Provided, That
any such property in the custody or control of any such general
receiver in which there is any contingent remainder interest, or
any vested remainder interest which is subject to open to let in
persons not yet in being or to open to let in members of any
class, or any executory interest, or executory devise interest,
or any base, qualified, conditional or limited fee estate or
interest, or any other qualified, conditional, limited or
determinable estate or interest, shall not be presumed abandoned
until such property has remained unclaimed for more than five
years after such estate or interest has vested or any such class
has closed and the persons entitled to such property have beendetermined.
§36-8-9. Miscellaneous personal property held for another
person; exception; prohibiting the levying of charges on
inactive savings account.
(a) All personal property not otherwise covered by this
article, including any income or increment thereon and after
deducting any lawful charges, that is held or owing in this state
in the ordinary course of the holder's business and has remained
unclaimed by the owner for more than five years after it became
payable or distributable is presumed abandoned:
Provided, That
this section shall not apply to such property held or owing by a
utility prior to the year one thousand nine hundred fifty-seven:
Provided, however, That notwithstanding the provisions of section
two of this article, no banking or other financial organization
or institution shall, after the effective date of this section,
demand, collect, charge or contract to receive any charge due to
dormancy or inactivity on any interest bearing savings or time
deposit for any period of time prior to the withdrawal of such
funds by the depositor, his personal agent or representative, or
the accrual under this article of the right of the state to
deposit or sell as abandoned property any such deposit. For
purposes of this proviso, any interest bearing savings or time
deposit shall be deemed to be dormant or inactive if the
depositor, his personal agent or representative has not within
the immediately preceding two years increased or decreased the
amount of the deposit.
(b) Any amount held by any organization for the payment of
a money order on which such organization is directly liable shallbe presumed abandoned if such amount is held or owing for payment
of a money order which may have been outstanding for more than
seven years from the date of its sale.