2009 Iowa Code
Title 14 - Property
Subtitle 1 - Personal Property
CHAPTER 556 - DISPOSITION OF UNCLAIMED PROPERTY
556.1 - DEFINITIONS AND USE OF TERMS.

        556.1  DEFINITIONS AND USE OF TERMS.
         As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
         1.  "Banking organization" means any bank, trust company,
      savings bank, industrial bank, land bank, safe deposit company, or a
      private banker engaged in business in this state.
         2.  "Business association" means a corporation, cooperative
      association, joint stock company, business trust, investment company,
      partnership, limited liability company, trust company, mutual fund,
      or other business entity consisting of one or more persons, whether
      or not for profit.
         3.  "Cooperative association" means any of the following:
         a.  An entity which is structured and operated on a
      cooperative basis, including an association of persons organized
      under chapter 497, 498, or 499; or an entity composed of entities
      organized under those chapters.
         b.  A cooperative organized under chapter 501.
         c.  A cooperative organized under chapter 501A.
         d.  A cooperative association organized under chapter 490.
         e.  Any other entity recognized pursuant to 26 U.S.C. §
      1381(a) which meets the definitional requirements of an association
      as provided in 12 U.S.C. § 1141(j)(a) or 7 U.S.C. § 291.
         4.  "Financial organization" means any savings and loan
      association, building and loan association, credit union, cooperative
      bank or investment company, engaged in business in this state.
         5.  "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.
         6.  "Life insurance corporation" means any association or
      corporation transacting within this state the business of insurance
      on the lives of persons or insurance appertaining thereto, including,
      but not by way of limitation, endowments and annuities.
         7.  "Mineral" means gas, oil, and coal; other gaseous, liquid,
      and solid hydrocarbons; oil shale; cement material; sand and gravel;
      road material; building stone; chemical raw material; gemstone;
      fissionable and nonfissionable ores; colloidal and other clays; steam
      and other geothermal resources; and any other substance defined as a
      mineral by a law of this state.
         8.  "Mineral proceeds" means amounts payable for the
      extraction, production, or sale of minerals, or upon the abandonment
      of those payments, all payments that become payable thereafter.
      "Mineral proceeds" includes amounts payable as follows:
         a.  For the acquisition and retention of a mineral lease,
      including bonuses, royalties, compensatory royalties, shut-in
      royalties, minimum royalties, and delay rentals.
         b.  For the extraction, production, or sale of minerals,
      including net revenue interests, royalties, overriding royalties,
      extraction payments, and production payments.
         c.  Under an agreement or option, including a joint operating
      agreement, unit agreement, pooling agreement, and farm-out agreement,
      relating to the extraction, production, or sale of minerals.
         9.  "Money order" includes an express money order and a
      personal money order, on which the remitter is the purchaser.
      "Money order" does not include a bank money order or any other
      instrument sold by a banking or financial organization if the seller
      has obtained the name and address of the payee.
         10.  "Owner" means a depositor in case of a deposit, a
      beneficiary in case of a trust, a 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 that
      person's legal representative.
         11.  "Person" means any individual, business association,
      government or political subdivision, public corporation, public
      authority, estate, trust, two or more persons having a joint or
      common interest, or any other legal or commercial entity.
         12.  "Property" means a fixed and certain interest in or right
      in an intangible that is held, issued, or owed in the course of a
      holder's business, or by a government or governmental entity, and all
      income or increment therefrom, including that which is referred to as
      or evidenced by any of the following:
         a.  Money, check, draft, deposit, interest, dividend, and
      income.
         b.  Credit balance, customer overpayment, gift certificate,
      security deposit, refund, credit memorandum, unpaid wage, unused
      airline ticket, unused ticket, mineral proceeds, and unidentified
      remittance and electronic fund transfer.
         c.  Stock or other evidence of ownership interests in a
      business association.
         d.  Bond, debenture, note, or other evidence of indebtedness.

         e.  Money deposited to redeem stocks, bonds, coupons, and
      other securities, or to make distributions.
         f.  An amount due and payable under the terms of an insurance
      policy, including policies providing life insurance, property and
      casualty insurance, workers' compensation insurance, or health and
      disability benefits insurance.
         g.  An amount distributable from a trust or custodian fund
      established under a plan to provide health, welfare, pension,
      vacation, severance, retirement, death, stock purchase, profit
      sharing, employee savings, supplemental unemployment insurance, or
      similar benefits.
         h.  Amounts distributable from a mineral interest in land.
         i.  Any other fixed and certain interest or right in an
      intangible that is held, issued, or owing in the course of a holder's
      business, or by a government or governmental entity.
         "Property" does not include credits, advance payments,
      overpayments, refunds, or credit memoranda shown on the books and
      records of a business association with respect to another business
      association unless the balance is property described in section 556.2
      held by a banking organization or financial organization.
         13.  "Utility" means any person who owns or operates within
      this state, for public use, any plant, equipment, property,
      franchise, or license for the transmission of communications or the
      production, storage, transmission, sale, delivery, or furnishing of
      electricity, water, steam, or gas.  

         Section History: Early Form

         [C71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 556.1] 

         Section History: Recent Form

         95 Acts, ch 34, §1; 96 Acts, ch 1173, § 1, 2; 2001 Acts, ch 142,
      §4, 5; 2001 Acts, ch 152, §1; 2003 Acts, ch 44, §99; 2005 Acts, ch
      135, §116; 2007 Acts, ch 60, §1