SECTIONS 1500-1506 - California Statutes

CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

SECTION 1500-1506

1500. This chapter may be cited as the Unclaimed Property Law.

1501. 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.

1501.5. (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 in conjunction with the Budget Act of 2007, 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 18 months from delivery of
property to the state prior to disposal of any unclaimed property
deemed to have no commercial value.

1502. (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.

1503. (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.

1504. (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.

1505. 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.

1506. 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.