Escheatable

Pursuant to both the 1981 and 1995 Unclaimed Property Acts , payroll (e.g., uncashed paychecks and similar items) has a dormancy period of one year (as opposed to 3 or 5 years for many property types).  The one-year dormancy period is the norm in most states, but there are outliers.  Missouri, which currently has a five year dormancy period for payroll, has introduced legislation to join the majority of states using a one-year dormancy period.  The new legislation, House Bill 64 , would shorten the dormancy period for payroll related items to one year, effective January 1, 2012.  The bill has not yet been scheduled for a hearing before the full legislature.

We've spent  more than a few posts here talking about the states' use of unclaimed property as general revenue until such time as it is claimed by its rightful owner.  More recently, we've seen Connecticut erase its deficits through increased unclaimed property collection, and Michigan change its unclaimed property laws in an attempt to balance the state budget.   Of course, as any state administrator of unclaimed property will tell you (with varying degrees of honesty) unclaimed property does not belong to the state, it is simply held in trust for the rightful owner.  That fact - that the property is subject to reclaim at any time - is one of the biggest drawbacks of the states' increasing reliance on unclaimed property as state revenue. A recent story from North Carolina underscores the problems that occur when the unclaimed property well starts to run dry.  Pursuant to North Carolina law, the monies derived from investment of escheated property is used for need-

Now that we're back from the holidays, it's time for most people to deal with the unintended consequences of the gift giving season:  rebates and returns.  While the latter is generally straightforward (to the extent that waiting upon an endless customer service line is straightforward) rebates can be trickier, for both consumer and unclaimed property professional.  For the consumer, there are several different considerations, depending upon the type of rebate:  mail-in or online; cash back or future purchase; etc.  To say nothing of special forms, expiration dates, and proofs of purchase. For unclaimed property professionals, things are similarly complicated.  In some states, such as Virginia, there are unclaimed property exemptions for rebates and other "promotional incentives."  See Virginia Code Section 55-210.8 .  However, there is generally some confusion among holders as to what these exemptions cover.  To provide some clarity, the Commonwealth of Virginia is

It's time again for Did You Know?  On Fridays here at Escheatable , we provide you with interesting information regarding the unclaimed property laws to amaze your friends and frighten your enemies. You had to see this coming, right? We've spent a fair amount of time here at Escheatable marveling over all the people and entities that are owed unclaimed property, and by whom.  The Yankees are owed money from New York.   The State of California is owed money by the State of  Delaware (as well as by *ahem* California ).  In light of all that, it should perhaps be no surprise that the State of Wisconsin is holding unclaimed property for this gentleman. Merry Christmas everyone!

A quick update on the continuing  New Jersey gift card law litigation.   As you probably know, a variety of New Jersey gift card issuers filed a lawsuit  in federal court, seeking to have parts of New Jersey's new  gift card law  overturned.  Last month, the a federal court in New Jersey issued a preliminary injunction  prohibiting the state from enforcing at least two provisions of the new law: (1) the law's presumption that all cards sold in New Jersey are escheatable to New Jersey; and (2) the law's requirement that merchandise-only gift cards issued prior to the act be escheatable in cash. We say "at least" two provisions of the law have been enjoined because the parties to the lawsuit are currently disputing the scope of the federal court's injunction.  In particular, the parties disagree as to whether the new law's requirement that gift card issuers obtain purchaser or owner zip code information is enforceable.  New Jersey takes the position that t

In a December 1, 2010 budget forecast to the governor, Connecticut comptroller Nancy Wyman projected that the state would run an $18 million deficit for the current year.  Now, however, according to the Connecticut Mirror , a substantial increase in the amount of unclaimed property collected by the state may result in a budget surplus .  Specifically, according to the State Treasurer's office, Connecticut has brought taken custody of more than $92 million in unclaimed property (compared with a projection of $50 million). The article also notes, however, that claims for the first 5 months of the fiscal year are more than double that of this time last year, suggesting that any budget relief may be temporary.  This, we suppose, is to be expected.  As states continue to shorten dormancy periods and become more and more aggressive in requiring holders to report and remit unclaimed property, they will take custody of more and more property that is not "really" abandoned.  A

Quick programming note:  Escheatable will be off until December 21.  If there are any tips or breaking news that can't possibly wait until then, drop us a line at admin at escheatable dot com .

Add another entry to the list of recent articles here (and here , here , and here ) about unclaimed property auctions.  The Unclaimed Property Division of South Carolina began an online unclaimed property auction  yesterday.  Pursuant to the  South Carolina Unclaimed Property Act , unclaimed property that has been held by the state for at least 3 years may be sold to the highest bidder at a public sale.  (S.C. Code Section 27-18-230). Granted, most readers of Escheatable are sending out unclaimed property, not bringing it in.  But, if you are in the market for a set of sterling Christmas ornaments  or a Morgan Dollar belt buckle  this holiday season, be sure to check it out.

This past weekend the Abilene Reporter-News  published an article  providing an overview of Texas unclaimed property law, and encouraging readers to check with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts  to see if they are owed some of the $2.2 billion of unclaimed property being held by the state. Far more interesting to Escheatable, however, was the accompanying timeline  of the history of unclaimed property laws.  In just 27 lines, you can learn how the escheat laws developed from the time of Ancient Rome to today (with stopovers in England, the U.S. Supreme Court, and Texas).  It is worth reading.

It's time again for Did You Know?  On Fridays here at Escheatable , we provide you with interesting information regarding the unclaimed property laws to amaze your friends and frighten your enemies.  Today's entry is from Nevada: And how much am I bid for the postcard signed by Fred Clarke's Secretary? Tomorrow, the Nevada Unclaimed Property Division is holding an unclaimed property auction.   According to the Auction Catalog , one of the items up for auction is a "Fred Clark[e] baseball post card, non-malicious secretarial signed version."  Fred Clarke , who was inducted into the  Baseball Hall of Fame  in 1945, was an outfielder for the Louisville Colonels and Pittsburgh Pirates, and was one of the original "boy managers" (or player-managers).  According to James Spence Authentication , the "non-malicious secretarial signed version" of his postcard means that this item was not signed by Mr. Clarke himself (who, as you may know, is 7th all

A few months ago, we reported some unclaimed property developments in the Cayman Islands.    The Cayman government enacted the "Dormant Accounts Law," which established a 6 year dormancy period for most items, and provided that all dormant funds would be held for the "general revenue of the Islands."  As noted in the original Cayman News Service article , a number of holders were particularly concerned about the length of the dormancy period as well as DAL's notice provision, which provided that in situations where "the financial institution has been instructed by the dormant account holder not to correspond with or contact the dormant account holder" the financial institution is required to publish notice of the "nature and type of such dormant accounts" in "one or more daily newspapers circulating in the Islands . . . [and] any other media as the financial institution deems necessary."  (Dormant Accounts Law, Section 6(1)). Rece