447.543. Delivery of property to treasurer, when--retention of approved costs--errors of presumption, procedure--abandoned fund account established--payment of claims--records subject to public inspec

MISSOURI STATUTES AND CODES

447.543. Delivery of property to treasurer, when--retention of approved costs--errors of presumption, procedure--abandoned fund account established--payment of claims--records subject to public inspec

Delivery of property to treasurer, when--retention of approvedcosts--errors of presumption, procedure--abandoned fund accountestablished--payment of claims--records subject to publicinspection, exception.

447.543. 1. Every person who has filed a report pursuant to section447.539 shall pay all moneys to the treasurer and deliver to the treasurerall other abandoned property specified in the report at the time of filingthe report, provided the holder may retain from any such moneys thereasonable costs of complying with sections 447.500 to 447.595, which costsshall be approved by the treasurer. The treasurer shall approve such costsprovided such costs are not unreasonable given the facts and circumstancesof each case. The holder may recover the total bona fide costs forcompliance with sections 447.500 to 447.595. If the owner establishes hisor her right to receive the abandoned property to the satisfaction of theholder before such report is filed, or if it appears that for some otherreason the presumption of abandonment is erroneous, the holder need not payor deliver the property as required in this subsection, which will nolonger be presumed abandoned, but in lieu thereof shall file a verifiedwritten explanation of the proof of claim or of the error in thepresumption of abandonment with the treasurer.

2. The treasurer shall record the name and the last known address ofeach person appearing from the holders' reports to be entitled to theabandoned funds and cause such funds to be deposited in the special accountknown as the "Abandoned Fund Account", which is hereby created. Theabandoned fund account created by this section shall be the successoraccount to the abandoned fund account previously in the state treasury andall funds in such accounts on August 13, 1984, shall be transferred to theabandoned fund account created by this section. Records made herein, andopen for public inspection pursuant to section 447.560, shall be availablefor public inspection at all reasonable business hours; except that, therecords shall not be subject to public inspection or available for copying,reproduction, or scrutiny by commercial or professional locators ofproperty presumed abandoned who charge any service or finder's fee untilninety days after the names of the people to whom property is owed havebeen published or officially disclosed. From this account the treasurershall make prompt payment of claims duly allowed by the treasurer. At anytime when the balance of the account exceeds one-twelfth of the previousfiscal year's total disbursement from the abandoned property fund, thetreasurer may, and at least once every fiscal year shall, transfer to thegeneral revenue of the state of Missouri the balance of the abandoned fundaccount which exceeds one-twelfth of the previous fiscal year's totaldisbursement from the abandoned property fund, and, notwithstanding theprovisions of section 33.080, RSMo, to the contrary, no other moneys in thefund shall lapse at the end of the biennium. Should any claims be allowedor refunds ordered which reduce the balance to less than one-twenty-fourthof the previous fiscal year's total disbursement from the abandonedproperty fund, the treasurer shall transfer from the general funds of thestate an amount which is sufficient to restore the balance to one-twelfthof the previous fiscal year's total disbursement from the abandonedproperty fund.