Published: 2015-07-08
Key Benefits:
This chapter may be cited as the Unclaimed Property Law.
(Amended by Stats. 1968, Ch. 356.)
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) “Apparent owner” means the person who appears from the records of the holder to be entitled to property held by the holder.
(b) “Banking organization” means any national or state bank, trust company, banking company, land bank, savings bank, safe-deposit company, private banker, or any similar organization.
(c) “Business association” means any private corporation, joint stock company, business trust, partnership, or any association for business purposes of two or more individuals, whether or not for profit, including, but not by way of limitation, a banking organization, financial organization, life insurance corporation, and utility.
(d) “Financial organization” means any federal or state savings and loan association, building and loan association, credit union, investment company, or any similar organization.
(e) “Holder” means any person in possession of property subject to this chapter belonging to another, or who is trustee in case of a trust, or is indebted to another on an obligation subject to this chapter.
(f) “Life insurance corporation” means any association or corporation transacting the business of insurance on the lives of persons or insurance appertaining thereto, including, but not by way of limitation, endowments, and annuities.
(g) “Owner” means a depositor in case of a deposit, a beneficiary in case of a trust, or 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 chapter, or his or her legal representative.
(h) “Person” means any individual, business association, government or governmental subdivision or agency, two or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal or commercial entity, whether that person is acting in his or her own right or in a representative or fiduciary capacity.
(i) “Employee benefit plan distribution” means any money, life insurance, endowment or annuity policy or proceeds thereof, securities or other intangible property, or any tangible property, distributable to a participant, former participant, or the beneficiary or estate or heirs of a participant or former participant or beneficiary, from a trust or custodial fund established under a plan to provide health and welfare, pension, vacation, severance, retirement benefit, death benefit, stock purchase, profit sharing, employee savings, supplemental unemployment insurance benefits or similar benefits, or which is established under a plan by a business association functioning as or in conjunction with a labor union which receives for distribution residuals on behalf of employees working under collective-bargaining agreements.
(j) “Residuals” means payments pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement of additional compensation for domestic and foreign uses of recorded materials.
(Amended by Stats. 1990, Ch. 450, Sec. 2. Effective July 31, 1990.)
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, property received by the state under this chapter shall not permanently escheat to the state.
(b) The Legislature finds and declares that this section is declaratory of the existing law and sets forth the intent of the Legislature regarding the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act (Chapter 1809, Statutes of 1959) and all amendments thereto and revisions thereof. Any opinions, rulings, orders, judgments, or other statements to the contrary by any court are erroneous and inconsistent with the intent of the Legislature.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature that property owners be reunited with their property. In making changes to the unclaimed property program, the Legislature intends to adopt a more expansive notification program that will provide all of the following:
(1) Notification by the state to all owners of unclaimed property prior to escheatment.
(2) A more expansive postescheatment policy that takes action to identify those owners of unclaimed property.
(3) A waiting period of not less than seven years from delivery of property to the state prior to disposal of any unclaimed property deemed to have no commercial value.
(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 913, Sec. 10. Effective January 1, 2015.)
(a) This chapter does not apply to any of the following:
(1) Any property in the official custody of a municipal utility district.
(2) Any property in the official custody of a local agency if such property may be transferred to the general fund of such agency under the provisions of Sections 50050-50053 of the Government Code.
(3) Any property in the official custody of a court if the property may be transferred to the Trial Court Operations Fund under Section 68084.1 of the Government Code.
(b) None of the provisions of this chapter applies to any type of property received by the state under the provisions of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1300) to Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 1440), inclusive, of this title.
(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 738, Sec. 6. Effective January 1, 2008.)
(a) As used in this section:
(1) “Old act” means this chapter as it existed prior to January 1, 1969.
(2) “New act” means this chapter as it exists on and after January 1, 1969.
(3) “Property not subject to the old act” means property that was not presumed abandoned under the old act and would never have been presumed abandoned under the old act had the old act continued in existence on and after January 1, 1969, without change.
(b) The holder is not required to file a report concerning, or to pay or deliver to the Controller, any property not subject to the old act if an action by the owner against the holder to recover that property was barred by an applicable statute of limitations prior to January 1, 1969.
(c) The holder is not required to file a report concerning, or to pay or deliver to the Controller, any property not subject to the old act, or any property that was not required to be reported under the old act, unless on January 1, 1969, the property has been held by the holder for less than the escheat period. “Escheat period” means the period referred to in Sections 1513 to 1521, inclusive, of the new act, whichever is applicable to the particular property.
(Amended by Stats. 1990, Ch. 450, Sec. 3. Effective July 31, 1990.)
(a) As used in this section:
(1) “Old act” means this chapter as it existed prior to January 1, 1969.
(2) “New act” means this chapter as it exists on and after January 1, 1969.
(3) “Property not subject to the old act” means property that was not presumed abandoned under the old act and would never have been presumed abandoned under the old act had the old act continued in existence on and after January 1, 1969, without change.
(b) This chapter does not apply to any property that was escheated under the laws of another state prior to September 18, 1959.
(c) This chapter does not require the holder to pay or deliver any property not subject to the old act to this state if the property was escheated under the laws of another state prior to January 1, 1969, and was delivered to the custody of that state prior to January 1, 1970, in compliance with the laws of that state. Nothing in this subdivision affects or limits the right of the State Controller to recover such property from the other state.
(Added by Stats. 1968, Ch. 356.)
This chapter does not affect any duty to file a report with the State Controller or to pay or deliver any property to him that arose prior to January 1, 1969, under the provisions of this chapter as it existed prior to January 1, 1969. Such duties may be enforced by the State Controller, and the penalties for failure to perform such duties may be imposed, under the provisions of this chapter as it existed prior to January 1, 1969. The provisions of this chapter as it existed prior to January 1, 1969, are continued in existence for the purposes of this section.
(Repealed and added by Stats. 1968, Ch. 356.)
The provisions of this chapter as it exists on and after January 1, 1969, insofar as they are substantially the same as the provisions of this chapter as it existed prior to January 1, 1969, relating to the same subject matter, shall be construed as restatements and continuations thereof and not as new enactments.
(Added by Stats. 1968, Ch. 356.)
