Title 44, Chapter 12, Section 197
( 44-12-197)
(a) Any demand, savings, or matured time deposit with a banking or
financial organization, including deposits that are automatically
renewable, and any funds paid toward the purchase of a share, a
mutual investment certificate, or any other interest in a banking or
financial organization is presumed abandoned unless the owner,
within five years, has: (1) In the case of a deposit, increased or decreased its amount or
presented the passbook or other similar evidence of the deposit
for the crediting of interest or negotiated a check in payment of
interest on a time deposit; (2) Communicated in writing with the banking or financial
organization concerning the property; (3) Otherwise indicated an interest in the property as evidenced
by a memorandum or other record on file prepared by an employee of
the banking or financial organization; for purposes of this
paragraph, a record of the sending of a federal Internal Revenue
Service Form 1099, or its equivalent, to the persons enumerated in
this subsection and a record of its not being returned by the
United States Postal Service or its successor shall be an
indication of interest; (4) Owned other property to which paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of
this subsection is applicable if the banking or financial
organization communicated in writing with the owner with regard to
the property that would otherwise be presumed abandoned under this
paragraph at the address to which communications regarding the
other property regularly are sent; (5) Had another relationship with the banking or financial
organization concerning which the owner has communicated in
writing with the banking or financial organization or has
otherwise indicated an interest as evidenced by a memorandum or
other record on file prepared by an employee of the banking or
financial organization if the banking or financial organization
communicates in writing with the owner with regard to property
that would otherwise be abandoned under this paragraph at the
address to which communications regarding the other relationship
regularly are sent; or (6) A deposit made with a banking or financial organization by a
court or by a guardian pursuant to order of a court or by any
other person for the benefit of a person who was a minor at the
time of the making of such deposit, which deposit is subject to
withdrawal only upon the further order of such court or such
guardian or other person, shall not be subject to the provisions
of this article until one year after such minor attains the age of
18 years or until one year after the death of such minor,
whichever occurs sooner. These accounts are not subject to
dormant service charges. (b) For purposes of this Code section, "property" includes any
interest or dividends thereon. No banking or financial organization
shall deduct a service charge from any account on which there has
been no deposit or withdrawal for 12 or more months or otherwise
impose a service charge on any such account. A service charge may be
imposed for 12 months immediately following a deposit to or
withdrawal from any such account. (c) No banking or financial organization may cease to accrue
interest on any account from the date the account is declared
dormant or inactive by such organization except in conformity with
cessation of interest generally assessed upon active accounts. With
respect to any property described in this subsection, a holder may
not impose any charges due to dormancy or inactivity which differ
from those imposed on active accounts or cease to pay interest
unless: (1) For property in excess of $50.00, the holder, no more than
three months before the initial imposition of those charges or
cessation of interest, has given written notice to the owner of
the amount of those charges at the last known address of the owner
stating that those charges will be imposed or that interest will
cease, but the notice provided in this paragraph need not be given
with respect to charges imposed or interest ceased before July 1,
1990; and (2) The holder regularly imposes such charges or ceases payment of
interest and does not regularly reverse or otherwise cancel them
or retroactively credit interest with respect to such property. (d) Any automatically renewable property to which this Code section applies is matured upon the expiration of its initial time period. However, in the case of any renewal to which the owner consents at or about the time of renewal by communicating in writing with the banking or financial organization or otherwise indicates consent as specified in subsection (a) of this Code section, the property is matured upon the expiration of the last time period for which consent was given. If, at the time provided for delivery in subsection (e) of Code Section 44-12-214, a penalty or forfeiture in the payment of interest would result from the delivery of the property, the time for delivery is extended until the time when no penalty or forfeiture would result. |